


No More Running

by Tesla_Rolex



Series: Steven Universe [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: 15 Years after Original Series, Aged Up Connie Maheshwaran, Aged Up Steven Universe, Aged-Up Character(s), Character Death(Rose), F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Go Easy On Me, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Light Torture, Major oc character, My First SU Fic, References to Norse Religion & Lore, References to old and new Steven Universe episodes, Self-Harm, Spoilers for Steven Universe Future, Steven is still traumatized, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 80,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tesla_Rolex/pseuds/Tesla_Rolex
Summary: Fifteen years after Steven Universe liberated the galaxy, he is doing his best to find his happily ever after, even if it is short lived. But another phantom tied to Pink Diamond shows himself, revealing a new host of problems for him and his friends, and unmasking a new piece to the puzzle that is Rose's past and her crimes.This phantom emerges with one goal:To end the long cycle of retaliation with one final act of revenge.Against the original cause of all of their problems:The Diamonds
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Pearl/Pink Diamond's Pearl (Steven Universe), Spinel/Happiness, Steven Universe & OC, Volleyball/Pearl
Series: Steven Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569997
Comments: 47
Kudos: 33





	1. Land of Dirt

**Author's Note:**

> There is a very brief, non descriptive throw up scene in here so beware.

Tick Tock Tick Tock 

The grandfather clock kept ticking and ticking and ticking. It was starting to drive Isaac mad. He didn’t need to go to sleep. But he tried his best anyway. But it just wasn’t working because of the damn clock. ~~Where even was that clock?~~

It had been a long few weeks of clean up and more wet work. More corrupted gems threatened to overthrow Beach City in the background. The Crystal Gems were all scattered, so someone had to make sure their home wasn’t destroyed. They were still being hunted by Homeworld after all. 

But it all worked out. There were no more imminent threats to clean up and Ruby and Sapphire were _finally_ getting married. Isaac wanted to attend but…well, they all thought he was dead, so it wouldn’t seem appropriate. Also he didn’t get an invite. It is _very_ rude to attend a wedding uninvited. 

But at the very least he could at least spy on the wedding. He knew both of the brides, and the other gems, he really wanted to see how his friends had changed, how they were _happy_ without _her_. Without Rose. 

He saw some pictures earlier, but after a while…it just made him sad. His friends were doing so well, he just wanted to be there to say hi. But he couldn’t. The guilt started to rip him apart, so he tried to lie down, get some sleep. 

It was just so so hard to actually _fall_ asleep.

Then he heard the alarm. 

Red light filled his room, filled the entire ship. It was like it started screaming. 

Isaac jumped up immediately. Finally something to do. The horns in the ship kept screeching, echoing throughout the entire facility. People around him kept running, getting to their stations. They had prepared for this time and time again. And yet Issac wasn’t exactly sure what they were dealing with at the moment. 

Eventually, he got to his station. He was approached by one of the soldiers he had served with thousands of years ago, Weimar. 

“What’s the situation?”

“The diamonds. They are here.”

Isaac’s eyes went wide. “What?!”

He started to pull up the camera footage on the display in front of him. He panned through the different cameras he spent months spreading around Beach City. The main street seemed to be intact. Good, it wasn’t necessarily a world-ending disaster just yet. He panned to the camera in the temple...and saw that Greg was inside, watching…Cat Steven? Was that the cat’s name? But still nothing outrageous.

And then he panned to the camera on the lighthouse. And there was Blue Diamond’s ship on the beach, and in the distance, Yellow Diamond’s ship fighting…wait, was that the Cluster? How was it holding it’s own against a Diamond ship?! And with it’s arm alone! 

The beach was in ruins. A barn had crashed into it, and a fight was taking place against Blue Diamond. All of the gems were there. Even Lapis, who had left almost a month ago. 

Isaac’s hands trembled. This was it. The worst case scenario.

His soldiers, his friends all looked to him. “What do we do boss?”

Isaac took a moment to think. He looked at his chest and could faintly see the scar, the brand still present. He’d been waiting for this.

The words started to stumble out of him, like it was instinct. “Okay, here’s the plan. We’ve prepared for this, so we stick with our base teams. Firefighters, go into the town and make sure everyone is evacuated and safe. Bring what you need but keep it in your world, do not make a scene. Strikers, ensure that there are no homeworld gems lingering around. We want to be sure that nothing else can go wrong. Company, provide overwatch. Try to see if there’s anything else we need to worry about on the horizon. And Guardians, stay here. Make sure nothing goes wrong and nothing comes our way. And…Weimar…”

“Protect _her_ , please.”

Weimar smiled softly and nodded. “Done.”

One of his other soldiers, Sasori, spoke softly with concern in her eyes. “What are you going to do?”

Issac grinned. “I’m going to go to that lighthouse, and finish this.”

“Are you crazy?! You’re going to do that alone?!”

“Shouldn’t you wait until our gem partners are in position? I’ve already called them in, and what about her? Shouldn’t our asset be here for this? She has as much personal investment as any of us!”

The clamoring was panicking Isaac. Making him more nervous than he already was. But he kept his smile even and calm. “I can do this. Quick and easy, without any worry. Besides, we don’t have time to deliberate, Steven is in danger! They all are! Besides, the…asset doesn’t need to be awake for this. Just let her rest alright?”

The others nodded begrudgingly and soon, they sprung into action. They charged into the Barracks, grabbing weapon after weapon after weapon. Issac observed and noticed the vehicles everyone took. Helicopters, Motorcycles, Trucks, Homeworld vehicles they had procured, everything was fair game. He smiled at the sight. Maybe the worst case scenario could be prevented. 

However the panic burned within him yet again as he looked back at the cameras and saw the temple was completely trashed. And that Yellow Diamond’s ship had crashed on the beachside. The team was celebrating, but Issac knew, he _knew_ that it wouldn’t end at that. 

He ran to his room and armed up. He grabbed a couple of rifles, revolvers, machine guns from the shelf and stuffed them in his head. Anything that could be useful for a fight like this. C4 charges, incase it all goes to hell. No major explosives…he didn’t want to ruin Steven and the lives of his friends. ~~And thank god for it.~~

He looked at the large rectangular safe next to his bed. He considered it. It was his weapon after all. But he couldn’t. He needed range for a fight like this. So Isaac instead picked up the sniper rifle from the top of the safe. He modified it himself.

This…

This could kill a Diamond. 

He faltered for a moment. He put the sniper down, resting it on the bed, and walked into the restroom. Isaac looked at himself in the mirror. There were so many scars. On his face, his nose, his chest…that large scar on his chest. It was barely perceptible but he always saw it. Always. His straight hair was still pink, his skin tone was just the same. 

Isaac sighed and grabbed the bandages from underneath the sink. He wrapped them around his arms without so much as looking at them. He wrapped it smoothly, without any breaks or gaps. He tried to make sure they were Just another daily routine, right? 

Once he was done, he ran outside and grabbed the sniper on the way out. He used the ships warp-pad. The temple’s warp was no doubt broken, and it would certainly lose the element of surprise if he just walked out the front door of the broken temple. So he used one just on the outskirts of beach city. 

Isaac dropped in and saw the panic Beach City was under. Horns filled the streets, it was like the world was ending. And maybe it was. The Firefighters should have been doing their job, and yet Issac couldn’t help but panic. ~~What was happening?~~

He started to frantically run through the city. Years of training and yet he was panicked just as much as a rookie. It had been years since he’d seen Beach City in person. He wanted to see the sights, appreciate a donut, and just relax on the beach. But now the world was coming undone. All because of the Diamonds.

It was always the Diamonds. They ruined his life, the lives of the gems, of his…of his friends. Blue emotionally abused any she came into contact with, Yellow was a military tyrant, he didn’t even want to think about White. 

And Pink…Pink’s the reason his life is in ruin. Why so many of his friends have been hurt. 

All because of the death of a Diamond. 

All because of Rose Quartz.

He’s been cleaning up their mess for thousands of years. And now here he was. About the stop them from ending the world. 

Maybe this was a call to action. 

A call to stop running from his past. 

Well, what better way to stop running than to literally kill what ruined his life. 

He made it to the top of the mountain, next to the lighthouse. The arrival was clean. No one saw him, no one suspected him. Just an ordinary pink…person…running in the streets. ~~These guys must have been really used to the weirdest of the weird.~~

He took the sniper from out of his head. Issac started to point it at the beach but nearly dropped his gun at the sight. Both Lapis and Peridot were poofed. Steven was knocked out. Both Yellow and Blue were fighting against all of the gems. And they were giving it their all, but it was a losing battle. 

He could almost faintly hear a young voice screaming in his head, saying something about showing who he really is. ~~Wait what?~~

He was scared. This is what he has prepared for for years, but he was scared. 

Isaac took a moment to do what he always did. He looked at his bandages. At the scar on his chest. This is why he was fighting, this is what he was fighting against, this is what five thousand years of hell was all for. 

This was it.

No more running. 

He picked up the gun, slammed the magazine in, and pulled the cock and handle back. A .50 caliber sniper mixed with gem tech. It should do the trick.

He aimed right at Blue Diamond’s gem, right at her neck. 

But they weren’t attacking…they were just leaning over Steven.

Isaac couldn’t hesitate. He had to stop hesitating. 

He put his finger on the trigger and started to pull…

Until Steven woke up. 

He woke with a gasp, as all of the gems, Diamonds included, stared right at him. 

Isaac should’ve pulled the trigger tight there. 

And yet he put the gun down and took out a pair of binoculars. He needed to know, he had to know what was happening.

Just as he looked through it, he heard it. Clear as day. Blue Diamond said it.

She looked at Steven and said it. 

She called him _Pink_. 

Isaac gaped. Why would Blue call Steven Pink? He had his Mother’s gem but that had nothing to do with Pink Diamond.

Sure, Rose was a part of Pink’s court but…

Wait, if Rose killed Pink how did no one spot her? Where were the other members of her court? Only people who should have made it through to kill her was Pink Diamond herself and her…Pearl.

Oh no. No, no, no, no, **NO**!

He couldn’t breathe anymore. He dropped the binoculars and stood at the edge of the mountain. No one saw him. No one ever saw him. 

Was it really that simple? Did Pink just…fake her death? The person she served for years…that was Pink Diamond? 

Was it all a lie?

Years of fighting, of suffering, of dying and shattering. Of innocent humans and gems. People like Lapis, like all of the Corrupted Gems, like his best friends, like everyone he had ever loved…people like himself. 

All suffered for a _lie_. 

Isaac collapsed to the ground. Panic filled his being, his entire existence. It spread right from his core to the rest of his body, 

His family was murdered

His friends were killed

His body was ruined

All because of a Diamond who disguised as a friend. 

Was that all Rose was capable of? Making others suffer? 

It started to make sense now. It all clicked in his head.

All of them. All of his brothers in arms, all of his friends, the people he loved. They were all products of Pink Diamond’s failures. 

And Steven?

He dragged himself back to the edge of the cliff and saw him. 

He saw the look in his eyes as the Diamonds and the Gems started to hound him. 

He was just as lost and haunted as he was. 

Steven Universe was just like him.

He made a promise then.

A resolution.

Isaac Orion Sterling was done running. 

Pink Diamond created an endless cycle of death and suffering.

And no matter how long it takes, he will end that cycle. No matter what. 

No matter what. 

* * *

  
“ **WHOAAAAA!** ”

This again. Just one second of distraction and he was on the dirt, his motorcycle with it. Thankfully the bike hadn’t come apart, it had survived much worse in the past, but still.

Isaac needed to be more careful. He’d dosed off before, but never while driving. Most of his crashes were because of distraction, his emotions controlling him. Not sleeping. 

…Maybe…

No. Couldn’t be. And besides, it didn’t matter. 

Didn’t change a thing. 

“Hey boss! Are you okay?”

His earpiece buzzed. And with a groan he pressed it. “Fine, fine.” His face of embarrassment turned to focus. “Everyone in place? Is Crescent with you guys?”

The man on the other end laughed. “Crescent is fine. She wanted to go with you, remember? Anyways, most of the teams are in place. We’re on our way.”

“Good…good. I’ll be there soon.”

Isaac pulled his motorcycle off of the ground and triggered the brakes. He checked the digital compass on his wrist. About ten to fifteen more miles. That was manageable. 

He got on the bike and revved it, and soon drove into the distance. The sun was starting to rise. Even in this dirt filled wasteland it still looked beautiful. 

Damn shame what was about to happen. 

He reflected on the dream he had. Has it really been fifteen years? Fifteen years since his whole world turned upside down? A lot has changed in that time, sure. 

Steven Universe had brought peace to the whole universe. Seemed fitting considering his name. 

Despite all of the circumstances that drove Isaac, he was still happy about what the kid had done. He did the impossible.

And now the whole world was filled with homeward settlements. It started with Little Homeworld in Beach City, and then it spread like wildfire! Took a lot of convincing to the United Nations, but they were eventually okay with the settlements, and the increased gem population. Now Connie Maheshwaran and Steven were ambassadors of the gem people, and they were doing a damn fine job of it. It was kind of amazing how gems integrated with the society of his planet. He even served with some gems during his tenth run in the military. 

Spinel tried to attack the Earth. Destroy it and kill the Crystal Gems in the process, Steven included. Isaac considered acting, shattering Spinel like he should have shattered Blue Diamond. But then he realized how similar the two of them were. So he hesitated.

And that poor kid, Steven. He finally snapped, his connection and anger towards his mother consuming him…driving him to corruption. He should’ve done something but he couldn’t. He _hesitated_. 

He is done hesitating now. 

A lot has stayed the same too. Most of the tyrants in Homeworld, people like the Diamonds, those that ruined the lives of so many gems and humans were still alive. They haven’t answered for anything. 

It’d be one thing if they changed for the better and stayed that way. But some of these people still carried hatred for the Crystal Gems. There was still attacks on peaceful gem settlements from these people, these gems who despise Era 3 and crave for the old ways. 

The old ways. What a joke. 

The old ways would just lead to all of them becoming pawns yet again. Oppressed by god-like figures with no care for life and death and love and birth and peace and war on the planet Earth. 

And Issac would not let that happen. 

He could feel the engines of the air team blow on his trench coat. It was all coming together. Every team should be in place. Firefighters, Guardians, Company, all hands on deck for the beginning of the operation. 

Eventually, the target was in sight. Isaac checked the bandages on his arm. They were clean with no sign of damage. Good, he couldn’t afford distraction. 

He stopped the bike right outside the settlement. It was a series of buildings, almost like a neighborhood. There weren’t that many places left for homeward settlements, so they had to settle right in this land of dirt and dust. 

Fitting. 

He powered through the electric Era 2 field. They never did figure out the kink about humans being able to breakthrough. He looked around and saw that the buildings were blocking his view of the main street. He climbed on top of one of them in order to get some view of the situation.

Isaac made it to his destination and took out the sniper from his hair. There were tons of the gems in the city center. Peridots, Lapises, Aquamarines, Agates, even some Amethysts, all gathered around a Kunzite, a gem dedicated to interrogation. They were burning an effigy of Steven Universe. They were still connected to the prime Little Homeworld, and yet all seemed to have a hatred of Steven Universe. 

Well, something had to be done. 

He looked around. None of them saw him, but he was able to spot the air ship just out of reach, the sniper team all in positions, the Firefighters dedicated to causing unrest and disaster, blowing up the buildings. The Company dedicated to breaching the walls and eliminating those who dare fought. And the Guardians for eliminating all communication. 

All of this to send a message. 

They were armed and ready for war. 

And they were _done_ running. 


	2. Visions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day in the life in Beach City.
> 
> Though something is wrong and different about this particular day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Light spoilers for Steven Universe Future in this chapter!

**Connie** woke up more relaxed than most days. Usually she had to worry about being an ambassador or managing Homeworld and Earth relations, or whatever other military or political jobs she had, but today was a day to rest. Steven made sure of it. 

Besides, they were supposed to practice for their performance at the talent show. 

…Wait a minute, where even was Steven anyways?

She woke up in their bed in the temple and got up. She tried to look around in their room. She saw the cookie cat alarm, the collection of Unfamiliar Familiar memorabilia, the miscellaneous plushies, the tv with consoles and games, pictures of the two of them with the gems through the years, but no Steven.

“Biscuit! Where are you?”

No response. 

She walked down the stairs and looked around in the kitchen. Still nothing. She looked towards the bathroom and saw it was closed. Hm. Maybe he was using the bathroom? She tried to step closer until she heard a creaking of wood above her. 

Ah.

Connie immediately understood what was happening here. 

But she figured that she may as well play along. She walked around with a smirk. “Oh Steeeeven! Come on! We got to practice our talent!”

Her grin grew wider. “You know I was trained by some of the best gem warriors in the galaxy. I can find you easily! You better come out now!”

Nothing. Well, might as well turn the tables a bit.

She quickly whipped her head up to the ceiling. “Ah-hah!”

…He wasn’t on the ceiling. 

“Wha-?”

“ **SURPRISE-ATTACK-HUG!** ”

Out of literally nowhere, Steven grabbed Connie and swung her around in a circle, laughing all the while. Years ago, Connie may have panicked and gone into attack position. But because she was used to her very affectionate biscuit, she just joined him in laughter. 

She was happy. They were happy. Happily ever after may not be real, but they were at least enjoying the here and now. 

The Jam Buds had changed a lot in fifteen years. Connie now had short hair that just barely touched her shoulders. She’d gotten much taller and was almost as tall as her boyfriend. She’d also had her fair share of battle scars from her time as a Crystal Gem, Earth/Homeworld ambassador, and soldier in both Earth and Gem military. She’d thought about getting a tattoo, but she figured the scars were enough, and plus her Mom may give her a hard time about it(though never say never.) 

Steven however had changed so much more. He had grown fall taller, his shoulders had become broader, and while he still had some fat left on him, it was a stark contrast to who he was a while ago. He had some facial hair and hair on his arms and legs. His shirt was the same his father used to wear when he was a rockstar: black shirt with a star on it. He usually wore a flower covered jacket with it, but it was still early in the morning. He had some scars from previous battles over the past fifteen years and…

Well, his right eye was pink. Products of _corruption_ so to speak. He used to hate it more than anything. Sometimes he could feel his eye burn, or he could see something truly _wrong_ with it. But after coming to terms with it and learning to control it, he didn’t mind it all that much. 

His fluffy hair still stayed the same though, despite all the changes. How could he ever change that?

Steven eventually put Connie down after the shared laughter, and the latter soon punched the former in the shoulder. 

“Ow! What was that for?!”

“Surprising me like that! It’s illegal!”

“Illegal?” Steven grinned. “Not in Beach City it isn’t! Remember, we know the mayor, I’m sure they’d be fine with this!”

The two of them laughed a bit more. Connie smirked slightly. “How did you manage that anyways?”

Steven sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh that? I sort of…cheated.”

“Cheated?! You?!” Connie looked both perplexed and heavily amused. “…How?”

Steven didn’t say anything, rather he just jumped slightly and soon he was floating to the ceiling. It took a moment but Connie understood. “Ohhhhh I get it. Very well played!”

Steven grinned. “I thought about deploying Pink Steven but it didn’t seem appropriate for the circumstances.”

The two of them giggled slightly, until Connie looked at the kitchen and saw that food was already made…which seemed odd. Usually Steven and Connie make breakfast together, unless the other gems were here. And the other gems were gone, trying to train Lars how to fight(with the Off Colors, Sadie, and the Cool Kids of course tagging along.)

So that meant Steven made breakfast by himself. 

Which meant…

“Steven, did you wake up early?”

He looked shocked for a moment, then he sighed. “You and your detective skills, I swear. Come on, let’s grab our breakfast, go outside, start practicing our gig, and I’ll tell you all about it. Is that okay?”

Connie smiled. Steven really was making an active effort to be more honest with her. He didn’t have to, but she knew it made him feel comfortable now. And she couldn’t be more honored and happy about it. 

“Sure. Come on rockstar, let’s get to work!”

* * *

There was no such thing as a bad morning in Beach City. 

Even if you had bad dreams, even if something was slightly wrong with the weather, the moment you looked outside and saw the sunset, or the moment a friend, family member, or a new stranger came up to you and saw hi, it made the morning beautiful. 

**Steven** understood that better than most. 

He’d lived here all of his life. Even though he had been to Empire City, to planets such as the water colony of Ugantu 7, the traveling planet of Egillion, the fire planet of Arus, or the snow dunes of Axel, nothing could compare to Beach City.

Though, he supposed he was a little biased. 

Right now he was just tuning his guitar while Connie was eating her food and doing some vocal practice. 

His guitar was finally tuned so he started with some simple solfege. 

Connie perked up as he started playing the strings. “Hm! That one is…do re mi so mi do?”

Steven grinned. “You nailed it! How about this one?”

He played another series of notes.

“Uh….so fa mi re so?”

“Yup!”

Another.

“Do re me? Minor key?”

“Correct-a-mundo!”

And one last one.

“Do mi so do! ‘Isn’t it pretty?’”

Steven imitated a nasaly voice. “‘That’s exceedingly simple.’”

The two of them started cackling in laughter at the memory from the past.

There was no such thing as a bad morning in Beach City. This morning being a very good example of that. 

Only one thing was nagging at him. But he was trying not to think of it at the moment. 

“So before we start practicing…” Connie began. “How did you, Mr. Long Sleeper, wake up early last night?”

Dammit.

He smiled sheepishly again. “Well, it’s funny, I had a-”

Before he could say anything more, an alarm sounded. Not a terrifying one or scary one. The “Era 3” sound. That usually meant that someone had arrived using he warp pad. 

Connie immediately looked up. “Whoa, who could be here now? And come in _that_ way, rather than Little Homeworld?”

The answer soon greeted them as two pink gems bounded out of the warp dome. 

Steven and Connie’s eyes went wide, and the former grinned. “No. Way.”

But their eyes didn’t deceive them. As there, glancing around and grinning once the saw Steven and Connie, were Spinel and Pink Pearl(affectionately referred to as Volleyball by many of her friends.)

The two had reformed once or twice in the past fifteen years. Spinel now had a hoodie and stars at the root of her hair buns. Her “tears” were gone. She had time to reflect and change over the past fifteen years, and she was _happy_. Volleyball on the other hand wore suspenders and jeans and she was just as happy.

A lot had changed. Spinel had found comfort with herself and was able to heal. It took time. It took effort. It took perseverance. But she figured it out. The unsolvable problem. She still finds moments of hurt here and there but she’s able to deal with them when it comes. 

As for Volleyball, after bonding with Pearl and figuring out her issues, getting the complete picture of who exactly Pink Diamond was, was able to start the path of healing. She talked more to Pearl, talked more to Spinel, and to Steven, and created bonds with all of them. With Steven, she found a trusted friend and almost sibling like figure. With Spinel, her best friend and confidant. And with Pearl…something more. More than they could have ever dreamed. 

The two of them exchanged hugs with Connie and Steven with grins and laughter. 

“Steven! It’s so good to see ya!”

“It’s nice to see you Connie. It’s always fun to talk to you!”

It took a bit but once they had calmed down, they were now sitting on the field in front of the Lighthouse together. They were discussing memories of the past before they started practicing for the talent show. 

Spinel was laughing so much. “Wait, so Peridot built a robot just to fight Pearl, who also built a robot, just to prove who was better at building?! **OH MY STARS THAT’S HILARIOUS!** ”

Volleyball giggled with her. “That sure does seem like something Pearl would do. She always was very…”

Connie stepped in with a grin. “Over the top?”

Spinel started cackling again, and Volleyball snickered. “Yup, that sounds about right!”

Steven had his head in his hands. “Stooooop making fun of my space moooooooom!”

Volleyball grinned. “I have the right seeing as we’re talking about my girlfriend!”

Spinel retched, and now all of them were laughing together. Time had changed things. It had repaired wounds and ended tensions. And it was nice. 

But Steven couldn’t help but dwell on the dream he had the previous night. The reason he woke up at 2 am in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep. That man...the man with the pink skin and hair. The one who had weapons and who was there when he told the Diamonds who he was. It made no sense and yet, he realized that no one looked at the lighthouse during the attack from the Diamonds. 

If he looked around in the dirt, could he _find_ that camera?

He was roused out of his thoughts from Connie holding his hand and looking at him curiously. Steven smiled softly, and Connie returned it. 

Connie looked towards the pink couple with a slight grin. “So, what are you guys doing for the talent show?”

Spinel and Volleyball looked at each other, and then they both grinned. 

The latter was the first to speak. “Oh…I got an idea for something to do…”

Spinel smirked. “Same here…”

Steven narrowed his eyes. “That…sounds ominous.”

The four of them laughed yet again. Spinel was grinning now and looked right at Connie and Steven. “What are you guys doing?”

Steven smiled softly. “Well I’m supposed to participate in a few shows. Help with Lars and Sadie’s gig, help with Garnet’s event, I’m supporting everyone in some way, but as for our own?”

Connie grinned. “We’re doing a duet!”

Spinel and Volleyball hesitated for a second, until Steven noticed their hesitation and held his hands up. “Okay, I know we are really good at singing and it is all I do sometimes, but! Connie and I had an idea to make ours…”

She winked. “A little bit unique.”

Now Spinel was narrowing her eyes. “Ya wanna talk about ominous? _That_ is ominous.”

“Hah! Fair enough. Even Stevonnie is going to have a gig! I swear, it’s going to be one of the coolest things to happen to Beach City!”

Volleyball smiled. “And it is all thanks to you Steven. You organized this, you came up with the idea! I mean come on! What better way to demonstrate relations between Homeworld and Earth then by organizing a talent show where the whole purpose is to show what gems and humans can do when they are happy and in their own control.”

Steven smiled wide, but his thoughts drifted again and it didn’t reach his eyes completely. Spinel continued as Steven just looked towards the grass. “Exactly!” She sighed. “It’s a bummer the diamonds can’t make it.”

Connie immediately noticed Steven’s state, and had finally had enough. “Steven, what’s going on? You look down, you somehow woke up earlier than me this morning, and you mentioned something you had to tell me. What is it? You should know that we of all people won’t judge you.”

Spinel and Volleyball looked shocked for a moment, but then they nodded. The former spoke first. “Yeah…we know what it’s like to be afraid and…trust me, we won’t judge you.”

Then Volleyball spoke. “You have done so much for us. The least we can do is listen.”

Steven looked shocked, but then he sighed. How could he argue with that? He shouldn’t be surprised that these three would be trying to comfort him. So…

He might as well start sharing. 

He tried to recall the vision he saw. His breath seemed to slowly leave him as he told the tale. “I…I had a dream last night. A vision. Of the past.”

Connie looked concerned. “Like the ones we had of Pink Diamond?”

Steven nodded. “Yeah. Exactly the same. Except…I didn’t see Pink Diamond as myself. I saw the person I was dreaming about. I saw his face. And…I don’t know what to make of it.”

Spinel leaned forward, nervous. “What…did you see?”

He slowly nodded, remembering the vivid details. “I saw this man. He was a human but…he was a soldier. He had this army of people by his side. I couldn’t…quite make out their physical details. But there were a lot. This guy h-he was in a ship, I think. There was an alarm. And he had cameras across all of Beach City. He witnessed it…

He witnessed when the Diamonds came to earth almost fifteen years ago. When they tried to attack us. When I told them that I was Pink Diamond.”

The three exclaimed at the same time. “ **WHAT?!** ”

Connie immediately backed up and now looked curious. “Wait, you said cameras. Where were these cameras?”

“I think there was one in the temple. One in Beach City’s main street. And one…on this hill.”

Now Spinel, Volleyball, and Connie looked borderline terrified. Volleyball nodded at Steven. “What else did you see?”

“He commanded this soldiers almost like a general. They had functions to make sure that the city was safe during the attack. He was looking out for us that day. But…he had guns. A lot of guns. Some kind of sniper. He was intending to kill the Diamonds.”

Spinel’s eyes widened. “Why?”

Steven sighed. “At the time, Blue and Yellow were still warmongers. They came here to kill us. To kill me. I guess this guy was trying to make sure they didn’t…but I don’t know why.”

“But…he looked in the mirror and I saw him. I barely remember his specific details but…he was pink. He was _pink_.”

Spinel leaned in even further. “Pink like me?”

Steven shook his head, tears threatening to burst. “No. Pink like _Lars_.”

Connie gaped. “…You’ve never met him so…he knew Rose? But how? Why have we never heard of this guy?”

Steven didn’t say it, but he knew. More secrets from his family to protect him from their sins past. He thought that was over with. He thought there were no more stories, no more sins to expose.

Instead he just continued. “He ran into the street. And he was scared. He was scared of facing the Diamonds like that. And I think…I think he hated Rose and Pink Diamond. So when he got to the top of this very hill and saw the Diamonds looming over me…and when he heard I was Pink Diamond…He put the pieces together and-”

Connie looked up in horror. “He broke.”

Steven nodded. “He broke. He had a panic attack and he swore to…stop running I think. I think…his name is Isaac.”

The three of them looked both horrified and stuck in their own head. Connie especially looked like she was trying to remember something.

Volleyball looked around and tried to force a smile. “W-well maybe it was just that! A dream! After spending just a few days here I have dreams about random fake people all the time! Maybe you just had a dream about an anime character or-”

Spinel suddenly stood up and looked around. “Step back.”

The other three looked confused, but the stood up and stepped back. Spinel stretched out her arms and dug into the dirt on the hill just under their feet. She started to lift and throw the dirt over her head, digging a small hole with the makeshift shovel she made out of her hands. 

Soon, the hole was made, and Spinel jumped into it, looking around. The three stepped up to the hole and looked baffled. Connie was the first to voice what they were all thinking. “Uh…Spinel what are you doing?”

Spinel kept digging and searching until she froze. She spoke with a slight waver in her voice. “I am looking…for this.”

The three all looked down the hole and there, for all to see, was a series of wires that lead to a pipe connected to a small camera. Spinel grabbed it and ripped it from it’s sockets, causing the red light on the camera to blink out. 

Volleyball’s eyes went wide. “It was real…”

Connie looked at the camera in Spinel’s hand and her mixed expression of both anger and fear. Then she looked at Steven and asked a question that she knew Steven didn’t want to hear.

“So we know the dream was real. We know that there is another human out there who has been hurt by Pink and Rose, and who is probably out there and hurting. So what are we going to do about it?”

Steven felt dread fill within him. Another consequence of his mother’s problems back to haunt him. And yet something felt…different about this Isaac. If he wanted to kill Steven he would’ve done so fifteen years ago. And the fact he tried to protect him all those years ago…it sends a message. 

So maybe he should respond in kind.

Maybe Steven should stop running as well. 

So he turned towards the three gems, knowing full well it was just them for now, and nodded.

“What we do…is find him. And help him.”

Spinel looked up at Steven. “And if he is where I was? If he’s taking his anger and pain out on others?”

Steven nodded and whistled. Soon, they heard a slight rumbling and then Lion ran up to them. 

And Steven smiled. “Then we stop him first.

Then we help him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyy! I was going to wait another week to post this, but I was so excited to share the next chapter! In fact, I may drop another on Wednesday? We'll see  
> The mystery is starting to present itself a bit, and I'm excited to share it with you! I think it's going to be great.  
> In terms of canon stuff, I operated off of the assumption that Steven did get corrupted at some point, based on the Corruption theory from Novantium on tumblr. There were a few other fun things i teased, but I'll leave you to figure that out.  
> By the way, when the time comes to do the backstory of Isaac, do you want me to approach it like the flashback episodes from Steven Universe, or should I not...do that?  
> Right now im leaning towards the former, but im open to your guys opinion.  
> As always, I hope you enjoyed and please leave a comment if you did!(Seriously, the comments from the last chapter helped a lot, so thanks!)  
> See you soon!


	3. Infinite Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The leftover gems dive into Lion's mane and discover a new web of lies to untangle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more minor SU:F Spoilers

“Steven! Did you get everything we need?”

Steven sighed and instantly picked up the oxygen tank, and ran back outside of the temple. “I got it Connie!”

He eventually got to his destination, the Beach, where Connie, Spinel, and Volleyball were waiting for him. He smiled and laid the giant oxygen tank on the ground. 

Spinel raised an eyebrow. “Where did-?”

He sighed. “Pearl.”

Volleyball grinned slightly. “Ah, that makes sense.”

Connie turned to the two gems. “Are you sure you want to come with? It could get…” 

She motioned to Steven to help and he just let out an exhale. “Messy.”

Spinel snickered. “Are you crazy? I came to Earth ten years ago and tried to kill everyone here! I can handle messy!”

The couple narrowed their eyes, and Volleyball stepped in with a small smile. “What she means is that we’ve always wanted to be a part of a ‘Crystal Gem Adventure.’”

Spinel shouted, “ **HEY!** ” while both Steven and Connie laughed. 

Lion soon stepped up to the four, and tried to nuzzle his face against Steven’s hand. The mini team all had the exact. Same. Reaction. 

“Awwwwwwww he’s so cuuuuuuute!”

Steven readied himself for the operation and went over the plan again in his head. They knew this Isaac was pink so they were going to go into Lion’s mane, and look for his tree. Steven and Connie couldn’t breathe in the pocket dimension, so they would bring an oxygen tank so they could do their searching. Once they found the tree, they would go in, find where Isaac is, and depending on the situation, stop him. Or help him. The plan was very fluid so they could make things up as they went. 

But Steven, deep down, was very nervous. He didn’t know what to expect from whoever Isaac was. He could be one of the nicest people he’s ever met…or perhaps one of the most evil. He had no idea and it scared him. Isaac is an oddball. A wildcard in his mind. Steven feels remarkably lost, just as he did almost fifteen years ago, the first time he encountered someone like Jasper. He didn’t know what to expect then, and he doesn’t know what to expect now.

But if there's one thing he’s learned is that nothing ever gets done by just sitting around and waiting for the universe and the people in it to just sort themselves out. 

He snapped back to attention at Connie re-discussing what they were looking for. “Remember, we are just looking for a tree. It might be far from Lion and Lars’ tree so it’ll be a bit of a walk. But once we get there, the goal is to find Isaac and talk to him. Got it?”

Spinel grinned and mock saluted. “Aye-aye captain!”

Volleyball giggled and Connie just groaned. Steven smiled softly. He appreciated the jokes.

Especially because he realized that everyone was just as anxious as he was. They were stepping into uncharted territory after all. 

But like Isaac said. 

“No more running.”

The four all nodded at each other, and Steven picked up the oxygen tank. He had volunteered himself as the first to go in, being the most familiar with Lion’s mane. So he put one foot into the mane, then the other, and then…

He was in.

As soon as he was in, he clamped the oxygen mask on his face and immediately felt the literal breath of fresh air fill his lungs. Soon, Connie, Spinel, and Volleyball all stepped in, with Connie immediately having her oxygen mask on. 

Steven looked around and marveled at the familiar sight of Rose…Pink’s little pocket dimension inside Lion’s mane. He still wondered how something like this was possible. Was this just one of Pink’s diamond powers? Was this also why Rose’s room was so…odd? Steven had dwelled on this for a long time, but he understood he may never get the answers he wanted…though maybe Pearl would know. 

Volleyball immediately spoke up with a scoff. “…You can’t be serious. Of course Pink did something like this, this is just like her!”

Steven froze. “What? Wait, so this was one of…Pink’s powers?”

Volleyball nodded. “Yup. Every diamond had their own unique powers, based on their primary emotional state. Yellow could electrocute people in anger, Blue could make others cry because of her sorrow, White…” Volleyball spoke with a tinge of anger and disdain, “…could corrupt people because of her controlling nature.”

She immediately perked up though when she got back on track. “But Pink, oh she was so imaginative and creative! So she was able to create small pocket dimensions based on her own will. When she used her healing tears, she was capable of bringing those who were saved into her network of pocket dimensions. She didn’t intend to use it much, but it turned out just like she dreamed.

“But…” Volleyball’s look turned dark. “It doesn’t change how destructive her powers were at heart.”

Connie looked baffled, Steven looked stunned, while Spinel looked…downtrodden. Soon, Volleyball was the first to realize why. “…Oh my stars Spinel I am so sorry. I should’ve known that talking about Pink would bring up bad memories, I should’ve-”

But Spinel immediately put her hand up with a small smile. “It’s okay. I get it. She really did do a lot of damage huh? Still though, I wish…she told me about all this….Come on, let’s get to lookin’.”

For a moment, everyone was silent, until Steven spoke up. “Yeah…Yeah I guess she did.” 

Spinel and Volleyball immediately moved forward, talking about Pink Diamond yet again. It always seemed to be about her in the end. Was this what Pink was capable of? Creating her own _dimensions_? And her bringing that to power to those she brought back from the dead sounded…vaguely terrifying. It was almost like she enacted her own will on those she was supposed to save. 

For a while, Steven worried if he was doing the same, long before today, and he brought it up to Lars. He immediately refuted him, saying he didn’t have much choice and that he is the last person to be controlling. It still haunted him. 

And if Rose/Pink did that to someone like Isaac…Then it made sense why he might hate them. Especially if he found out they were the same person. 

The destruction Pink was capable of. 

She really did corrupt everything she touched. 

Soon the four had departed far away from the two trees. And they were essentially in the middle of nowhere. Steven never realized how big this dimension was. It was both beautiful…and terrifying. 

Eventually Connie fell back and walked in step with Steven. She sighed and he immediately caught on. “Let me guess, Volleyball and Spinel are still down because once again, Pink Diamond has hurt all of us in a multitude of ways.”

Connie smirked. “You need to become a psychiatrist. That way you can at least get paid for helping your friends.”

Steven smiled despite himself. It would be nice, but it would probably be more of a weight on his psyche. So he just said what he thought seemed right, regardless of who it’d help. “I don’t know. I just…every time. The amount of pain she caused, the amount of suffering she enacted. And even now it sometimes keeps me up at night wondering…was she a bad person? Or was she a good person who did bad things? And which is worse? The tantrums she caused, the worlds she created. The pain she inflicted, the lives she saved. There’s never an end to how…conflicting it is, is there?”

Connie nodded. “Yeah it almost seems like she was enacting her will on others, intentional or not. Every time I think I know something about Pink Diamond, something else comes that completely changes my view.”

Steven smiled ruefully. “Welcome to my world, we have cookies and emotional trauma.”

Connie smiled then looked concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

He smiled for a second, and then dropped the facade. He looked not nervous or scared just…tired. “I don’t know…I guess I thought that facing my mother’s crimes was done when I fought the Diamonds…or Spinel…or Jasper…or Volleyball…or myself. But I guess it’ll never end. Maybe it’s time I understand that there is a whole universe filled with people that Mom hurt and that I’ll never stop cleaning up her mess and attempting to help those she hurt like a therapist. I’m so sick of hearing about her. But I know it’ll never stop. Ever. 

Because I am her son and I’m the only one left to atone for her crimes.”

Connie immediately stopped Steven and gave him a tight hug. He was stunned to silence as she spoke. “Hey…you’re not alone anymore. I’m here, the gems are here, we are all here to help you through this. Look I don’t know who or what Isaac is or what he’s up to. But I know we’ll figure it out together. You said it yourself, we stop him, then help him. We can do this. Because we are jam buds and we always stick together. Okay?”

Steven smiled in shock. “I…When did you get so good at speeches?”

Connie snorted. “Since I became a Crystal Gem. Or I got it from you. Take your pick.”

He laughed a bit, but then he smiled softly. “Do you…want to fuse?”

And Connie grinned. “Gladly.”

There was no dance. No extreme movements. Just a hug, and then there was light. The two suddenly became bigger and suddenly there stood Stevonnie. They had also changed quite a bit since their “birth” fifteen years ago. Before they were just above average teenager size, now because they were both in their late 20s, they were just slightly taller than Garnet. They had the combined clothes of both Steven and Connie: the latter’s jeans combined with Steven’s rockstar shirt and flower jacket. 

Immediately they smiled and hugged themselves. It felt good to be an experience again. But then they looked around and instantly realized that 1. Their oxygen masks had combined and 2. …Well

“Oh shit! I forgot my sword! Why did you make me curse? It seemed appropriate at the ti-!”

They instantly looked ahead and saw Spinel and Volleyball staring in shock. 

“Oh.”

“My.”

“ **STARS! IT’S SO GOOD TO SEE YA AGAIN STEVONNIE!** ”

“We’ve missed you a lot!”

Stevonnie immediately grinned. “Oh, you shouldn’t! I’m glad to see you guys too. I’m up to speed on all that’s going on, so let’s keep searching.” Then they froze. “But first…I think you guys need to talk.”

They bounded forward, causing Spinel and Volleyball to look at each other. They were both hesitant to speak and ended up speaking at the same time.

“Hey um-”

“Oh I’m sorry you go first-” “No, you can go I insist-”

But Spinel just sighed. “Look Volleyball I’m…sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten upset at-”

But Volleyball immediately retorted. “Don’t. You were completely in the right. We’ve talked about discussing Pink and I just…completely overstepped. I’m sorry.” 

Her eyes soon turned somber. “It’s just…sometimes it’s just hard to balance the two sides of the Pink I knew. I knew her as someone who couldn’t keep a secret and hurt others, Pearl knew her as someone capable of doing such incredible good and hurt people by accident. 8000 years went down the drain because of her and yet in some ways we both still love her but…the pain she caused is just…”

Spinel smiled softly. “I get it. I’m probably one of the few who know where ya’ve been, along with Pearl herself. Maybe this isn’t the kind of thing we can ever move on from. Maybe time can’t even heal these wounds. I don’t know, even now I still wonder if I’ve even remotely moved on.”

But Volleyball exclaimed. “But you are! You reacted about as well as you could, compared to just a few years ago! You are healing. We are healing. And we are together all the while. Us pink gems have to stick together right?”

Spinel grinned. “Always.”

They both gave each other a big hug and smiled. They didn’t fuse, but they could still at least feel comfortable in the others presence. It felt nice to finally be able to have someone that loved you for…well, you!

They released each other from the hug when Volleyball just held her arm tightly. “I just…even now I can’t even imagine how much Steven is hurting. You saw him earlier. He still holds himself responsible for all this.”

Stevonnie meanwhile just stood on a small hill in the middle of the pocket dimension, looking at the scene as the conversation continued. They sighed and tried to look away, holding their arms tightly. They started to speak to themself. “Are you…are you okay?” They scoffed. “Not exactly. They’re right on the nose. And…god, I don’t know if I can do this.” Stevonnie hugged themself again with a small smile. “It’s okay. I’m right here. Always. We’re right here.” They kept that smile and turned towards the opposite side of the hill. “Anyways, let’s get back to work and-”

“Oh my god.”

Stevonnie’s eyes went wide at the sight, and soon once Spinel and Volleyball had caught up, they followed their gaze and immediately froze. 

“Is that-?”

“No way.”

There, across the fields of pink grass stood dozens of pink trees. Maybe more. It was an entire forest of pink trees. 

An entire forest dedicated to the dead.

Stevonnie nearly broke apart at the mere sight. It made no sense. How could there be this many people who died and came back to life? How could they have not found out about it? We’re there more? Did _Rose_ do this or did _Pink_ do this?

Stevonnie could almost feel the anger flow into them at their final question.

Was this yet another secret Pink kept from the gems? Or did the gems know about this too?

Immediately they grabbed the oxygen tank and started moving. Spinel stepped forward with a waver in her voice. “We’re not going to talk about this?!”

Stevonnie scowled. “Nope. Let’s get moving.”

Volleyball and Spinel looked at each other, unsure of what to say, and just kept moving. 

They soon reached the trees and were horrified at the sight. The forest seemed to stretch on forever with no end in sight. There were so many different trees. And there was a lot of memorabilia on them. Some trees had pictures of families to certain other trinkets or objects, and…weapons. 

There were a lot of weapons. Guns, swords, even some gem weapons!

Stevonnie knelt down at the sight of the gem weaponry. They picked one up, a small rod with electricity burning from the tip and frowned. “A gem destabilizer. How did this get here? I thought we got rid of all of this ages ago!”

They jumped up and ran to another tree. “And these weapons…they’re ancient. Ancient Indian, Japanese, Egyptian, there’s everything here!” They glanced at a tree and saw something that caught their eye. “There’s even some Norse…weapons…Huh.”

Before they could dwell on it even more, they felt a sharp pain on their back. “Ow! What the hell was-?!”

They whipped around and tried to see where it came from, but could barely see anything. Spinel and Volleyball ran up to them. “Wha happened?!”

The latter immediately stood behind them. “Are you okay?”

Stevonnie nodded. “Yeah yeah I’m…fine.”

They saw it. Clear as day. Slowly emerging from the tree were burning embers. Ashes. They reached out to grab one of them and instantly felt the burn they felt before. 

Immediately, their guard went up. “Something’s wrong. Do you see what I see?”

Both Volleyball and Spinel squinted and their eyes went wide. “Oh no.”

“Why…why is fire coming out of the tress?”

Stevonnie grabbed one of the swords and grabbed a random belt and holster and put the sword into the holster and wrapped it around their waist. The sword was nothing special, just an old Talwar. But it should be enough.

Spinel immediately started to panic. “Whoa whoa whoa, what are you doing?! Are we really doin’ this?!”

Stevonnie immediately retorted. “What choice do we have? We came here to find Isaac and he’s either in danger or he is causing danger! And I don’t know which is worse!”

Volleyball immediately stepped forward. “There has to be another way! We can’t just run into danger like that! I’m not exactly much of a fighter!”

Stevonnie immediately raised an eyebrow. “Almost ten years ago you tore through a Pearl factory with Pearl. Somehow, all of Pink Diamond’s Pearls have some capability to fight. And even if you can’t, at least hide and help whoever you can. And…well I don’t think we have much of a choice here...So summon your gem weapons. And be prepared. Cause once we jump into these trees, anything could happen.”

The two looked at each other, and then nodded. Volleyball summoned her ribbon while Spinel her mallet and walked next to one of the trees. Spinel immediately whipped her head around to face Stevonnie. “Wait, shouldn’t we stick togetha?”

Stevonnie shrugged. “I mean, in theory? But we should cover a large amount of space. If whatever is going on is dangerous, we need to make sure we cover all the bases.”

Volleyball nodded and dragged a nervous Spinel over to the tree. Stevonnie stood next to another tree, sword in holster, ready to jump in. Before they did, they picked up a picture they found under it. 

And there was a soldier there. Alongside gems and other humans. But the soldier at the center of the picture had pink skin. But yet he wasn’t Isaac. 

Another web of lies huh?

Well. Time to unravel it all. 

Volleyball shouted out. “You ready?”

Stevonnie hesitated for a moment, then grinned. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Volleyball jumped right into the bushes, vanishing. Spinel paused for a moment then followed her. And Stevonnie took one last look at the infinite forest of trees, realizing that in theory, they had no way to get back home depending on where Isaac was. Realizing that Pink/Rose probably hurt another innocent life, realizing that once again Steven had to be the one to fix it all. 

Realizing that they needed to stop running from the past. 

Realizing all this, they jumped in. Into unknown territory. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3! I was so excited to drop this chapter, because it starts to lead into the main conflict of the entire story. We see more hints of Isaac's past here, very very small hints. What comes next is Steven discovering exactly what Isaac is up to. It was so fun bringing in Stevonnie, but I am unsure if I did them justice. And I just love giving Volleyball and Spinel more time together even if I don't necessarily ship them like others do. Anyways, thank you so much for reading and if you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment!


	4. Meeting a Phantom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stevonnie comes face to face with a phantom from a past he didn't know existed.

First the oxygen tank hit the pavement, and then Stevonnie hit soon after, slamming their head on the ground.

“Agh! Shit!”

They rubbed their head in pain and tried to get back up, quickly taking off their oxygen mask and taking a deep breath. 

Then they smelt it. The fire. The burning. They quickly looked around and saw the place they were in. It was a homeworld settlement but it was burning. Some buildings had already fallen apart and…

They could hear screaming. _Gem_ screaming. What was _happening_ here?

Stevonnie immediately tried to get up and turned around

And was immediately greeted by a guy in a black military suit with pink skin and pink hair, holding an assault rifle. He immediately gaped. “How did- When did- Wait…Stevonnie?”

Stevonnie’s eyes immediately went wide. “Uhhhhhhhhhh.”

The man in front of him slowly pointed his gun at them and spoke just as slowly. “Don’t…moooooove. Just…give me a second I have a headache.”

Stevonnie immediately put their hands up and started to panic. “But people are getting hurt out there! We have to help them!”

The guy looked up and immediately had a rueful look in his eyes. “Trust me. I _know_.”

Stevonnie immediately felt a chill go up their spine as the man leaned into a walkie-talkie and started to speak. “Hey Isaac-”

And Stevonnie’s dark feeling only got worse.

Isaac responded immediately. “What’s going on Oscar? I’m a little busy!”

“Yeah um…” Oscar took one last look at Stevonnie and glanced back to the walkie-talkie. “Stevonnie is here.”

Pause.

The walkie-talkie crackled as Isaac spoke with a small laugh. “I’m sorry, I thought you said that Stevonnie was here!”

“I did.”

Another pause.

While the seconds ticked on and Stevonnie started to panic, they took a look at the oxygen tank and immediately had an idea.

The walkie-talkie crackled again. “Okay. That’s…unexpected to say the least. That explains a bit but…hm. Okay, watch them. Once I’ve cleaned up the trash, I’ll come to you. Stay frosty.”

Oscar scoffed. “Over and out.” Then he turned back to Stevonnie. “Alright kids, you’re going to stay right he- **AGH!** ”

Stevonnie picked up the oxygen tank and slammed it against Weimar’s head, knocking him out completely as he slumped down to the ground. They immediately slapped their hands over their mouth. “Did I just…kill them?” They knelt down to check their pulse and immediately slapped themselves in the head. “Right, he’s immortal now. Don’t need to check his pulse.”

Stevonnie jumped up and looked around, seeing the burning buildings and starting to feel the panic boil within them. Who could’ve done something like this? Why burn down an entire settlement of innocent gems, people who were supposed to have a second chance on life? Everything that was happening here seemed horrible and yet it just all crashed down on them at once…

_Isaac_ was doing this, wasn’t he?

Who _was_ this guy?

Before they could dwell on that even more, they felt someone poke their back. They immediately pulled their sword out and pointed it at the intruder who threw her stretchy hands up in response-wait.

“Whoa! Take it easy Stevonnie, it’s just me! ~Your best friend Spinel!”

Stevonnie immediately lowered their sword as Spinel jumped down from her position hanging from the rooftops, and pulled Volleyball down with her. Volleyball immediately looked at the body on the ground in horror. “Oh my god! What happened?!”

Stevonnie sighed. “Turns out I came out of this guys head, not Isaac. But Isaac is commanding this guy and an entire army that is _apparently_ burning this entire settlement to the ground.”

Spinel gaped. “That sounds…horrible.”

They nodded. “Yup.” Then their gaze turned more confused. “Did you guys see anything up there?”

Volleyball immediately snapped to attention, a somber look in her eyes. “I saw soldiers running around the city. They were gunning down any Homeworld gems in their way, and starting fires everywhere. The gems are fighting back but…it’s a losing battle.”

Stevonnie kept feeling like the world was falling apart underneath them, but they had to focus. They immediately looked at both Spinel and Volleyball. “Okay…stick to the shadows and hide. If you see anyone in danger, help them. But stay away from any and all soldiers you see.”

Spinel immediately looked panicked. “What are you going to do?!”

They scowled. “I’m going to find Isaac and find out just what’s going on here.”

Spinel was about to oppose the situation more, but Volleyball stopped her. “We’ll do our best. Good luck out there Stevonnie.”

They smiled. “Okay…yeah, you too.” Stevonnie was about to walk into the street when they realized something. Sure, they could split up…But what if they waited for the right moment…Threw Isaac off guard…

_The plan would be perfect._

Stevonnie turned back to Spinel and Volleyball with a mischievous look. “Okay. Change of plans. Hey Spinel…do you still have that camera with you?”

Spinel pulled out the camera from her gem and gave it to Stevonnie. Volleyball stepped forward with a small smile on her face. “What do you have in mind?

And Stevonnie smirked. “Something…unconventional.”

* * *

It made no sense. 

Months, no, _years_ of planning. Specific dates, times, points where he knew the gems would be less protected. Exact locations of every communication hub in the city, of every type of gem inhabiting the city. The moment **Isaac** started putting his plan together, he knew this was the location he had to pick. Not just from a tactical standpoint, but from an ironic standpoint too. This was the place it all started after all. 

He expected to have to come into conflict with Steven at one point, in fact he hoped it would happen. He wanted to meet the legend himself, the person who was just like him, his _brother_. 

But he did not expect _Stevonnie_ of all people to just stumble out of Oscar’s hair. Out of literally nowhere. 

It made _no_ sense. 

Oh well. Maybe it was a lesson to stop making his plans expecting them to go perfectly.

Maybe this was another lesson in fate, he realized as he ducked behind cover, hiding from a Peridot who seemed….particularly peeved at the moment.

“ **FILTHY TERRANS! HOW DARE YOU ENCROACH ON OUR TERRITORY! YOU AND YOUR CLOD FRIENDS ARE DEA-** ”

She was interrupted by a sword straight through her gem, cracking it and then shattering it. The Peridot’s form dissipated as the shards dropped to the ground, and the armed assailant vanished. 

Isaac took a deep breath and stop peeking his head out of cover. “That was brutal. Even for you Saga.”

A person popped up next to Isaac, like she had blinked into existence. She had a skull mask covering her face and a blue hood over her head, with a light cape flowing down. “I’m sorry, it’s just she was trying to kill you!”

Isaac sighed. “It’s fine, I’m not upset. Did you hear what Oscar said?”

Crescent looked up at Isaac. She was a bit shorter than him, about 4’8, almost like a kid. “Yeah, I heard. What do you think?”

Isaac looked around, hearing the sounds of destruction and chaos as far as the eye could see. The destruction he caused the moment he ordered the buildings be detonated. Every team had done their job _perfectly_. They had to, in order to properly send their message. 

But Stevonnie being here changed things. Because now he really had to face the reality of his actions, and make the hero of the universe understand why he was doing what he was doing.

Isaac didn’t go into his plan expecting redemption. He doesn’t even really want it. 

But maybe some part of him wondered if it was possible. 

So what did he think?

“I think we need to be ready for anything.”

Crescent took a deep breath and sighed. “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you on the other side. I’ll try to coordinate with the others and round up the Kunzites for our…well, sentencing.”

Isaac nodded. “So will I. Good luck out there…and stay safe.”

Crescent nodded and then once again, blinked out of existence. Isaac looked on the ground and saw the footsteps she laid on the ashen dirt below them and smiled softly. 

Maybe he didn’t need to worry much. 

Suddenly someone grabbed him and threw him into a wall with a loud crash. Isaac crumpled into the ground, blood slightly covering his face. He looked back and saw a Citrine guard approaching him slowly. 

She spoke with an almost Russian accent. “How dare you come here! Hurting friends, family like they mean nothing. You have made a grave mistake.”

Isaac found his footing and leaned on the building behind him. He smirked. “Friends and family seemed like a stretch. You think I didn’t know about what you were planning? Your attempt to ruin the life of Steven Universe? Another try at a revolution?”

Citrine growled and immediately went in for the attack which Isaac swiftly dodged. She kept throwing punch after punch after punch but she couldn’t connect a single one. Until she got a lucky shot in that completely discombobulated Isaac, and took all of the breath out of him. 

For a moment, there was blood once again on his chest and still on his face. Citrine grinned. “Pathetic.”

She slammed him into the dirt below him. For a moment, he didn’t move and Citrine scoffed and started to walk away. 

Until she heard _laughing_. 

Citrine snapped her head to look at the body on the ground and there stood Isaac. With no signs of any wounds, any damage on his body. Sure, his trench coat was slightly cut. But his nose and his chest were completely healed. 

Citrine gaped. “How did-?”

Isaac sighed. “I had hoped you could make me feel something, but I forgot that Citrine guards are strong but not invincible. Not enough to kill someone cursed by Pink Diamond.”

“Who are you?!”

Isaac grinned. “Oh I have gone by many names. Gorm, Torsten…Sune… _Baldur_. Currently I am called Isaac. But you Homeworld gems have known me as _The Terran_.”

Citrine immediately recoiled with a horror-filled expression. “You…I thought you were wiped out ages ago?! That you stopped fighting after that Universe runt brought peace to the galaxy!”

Isaac slowly stepped forward with an unhinged look in his eyes. “I wanted to. But people like you, people who kept wanting to cause trouble changed that.” He looked up with a wistful smile. “People keep coming here looking to ruin the lives of humans and other gems alike. And it all started with Pink Diamond coming to our planet. But she’s gone now. And still people are trying to ruin lives in her name. The pain she has caused has spanned generations without end.”

And Isaac looked right at the still horrified Citrine with a grin. “I intend to end it. The cycle of pain and destruction. And that starts by ending those who would still wish harm upon this planet.”

Citrine screamed out once again and ran at Isaac which he dodged, but this time parried with a jump and a kick to the face. While startled, he maneuvered behind the gem and all seemed to fade away around him. There was no sound, no noise, just him, his body, his breathing, and his opponent. It was like time froze. 

He landed punch after punch on the back of Citrine, making her reel back in pain. He maneuvered around and faced her right in the eyes and directed a punch right at her gem. The mere force of the punch was enough to crack it and she fell to the ground in pain. She inhaled and exhaled as her gem form started to dissipate and glitch. 

Issac walked away and stood next to the building he had been punched into and pulled out a very large revolver. Citrine screamed out in pain. “Please! Don’t do this!”

Isaac scoffed. “You? Asking for mercy? With the amount of gems that you’ve killed, human lives that were innocent that did nothing except exist? Where was your mercy for them? Where was your mercy when you began planning to harm Steven and the Crystal Gems?”

He pulled back the hammer on his gun and aimed it at a structural weak point on the building. Shooting it would cause the building to collapse and crush the Citrine. “I believe in redemption just fine. But redemption doesn’t apply to those who still want to cause harm…

To the people I love.”

He was about to pull the trigger until…something hit his head.

It was something rectangular and _sharp_. It almost left a dent on his pink skin but he knew it would heal. His interest was driven but what hit him in the head.

He looked at the crumpled object on the ground and instantly recognized it: it was a camera. Specifically, one of the cameras he set up on…

Steven’s hill. 

Wait a minute. 

Before he could think about the object anymore, he felt a punch hit him right across the face. He looked around frantically, looking for the attacker…but nothing.

He felt the punch again and he immediately took sight of the attacker. And he stood shocked right as a mysterious gem delivered a flurry of punches to his entire body. The gem came attacking like a tornado and it was unlike anything that he had ever seen before.

And Isaac was _excited_. 

Finally, something _new_ , finally an unpredictable factor. It felt good to be out of control, even if it was just for a second. 

He was knocked back farther into the dirt, face covered in the ashen waste as the sun began to rise. Perfect. The perfect setting with a fight. Only thing that’d make it better was snow, but he knew that in this desolate wasteland, that’d be a bit too much to ask. 

Before he could get back off the ground, he was tackled back down again, causing his back to hit the dirt once again and leading him to see the new fighter. 

And he grinned at the sight of a fusion he had never seen before. 

They looked insanely colorful. There was no one color she had, but there sure was a lot of pink. Their hair coiled like a helix into jester like pig tails, she had a jester like outfit with a two gems exposed that were heart shaped and pearl shaped. Her shoes were comically large and her entire presence just seemed both amusing and unnerving. Her eyes were normal save for the left eye being shattered in a spider-web like pattern. And she had four arms that all stretched out like a comic super hero. In fact the star symbols on her chest and shoulders somehow combined the look of a jester and a superhero. 

And it looked _awesome_. 

Isaac spoke with an almost giddy and delighted tone. “Oh a new fusion! God it’s been so long since I’ve met someone new! Name’s Isaac, pleasure to meet you. What’s your name?”

She hit him hard with another punch to the jaw with an almost psychotic look in her eyes. “Name’s Rhodochrosite! And you are in big trouble pal!”

Rhodochrosite was about to deliver another punch to Isaac’s face, until he caught it with a smirk. “Fair enough, but I’m already in big trouble as it is so…sorry!”

He pulled out a weapon from his hair using his other hand revealing a…

Taser?

Rhodochrosite looked at it with a smirk. “That? Your plan is to use that little old thin- **AHHHHHHHHHHHH**!”

Isaac shot her with the taser, zapping her and causing her immense pain. It had a similar effect to a destabilizer, except without the destabilizing. He used the opportunity to kick her off of him and get off of the ground. The kick sent Rhodochrosite back onto the dirt as the charge slowly left her body. By the time she got herself up off of the ground, Isaac was already standing, waiting for her. 

He smiled softly. “Sorry about the cheap shot, I just didn’t have much choice. Anyways, who are you a fusion of?”

Rhodochrosite growled. “Figure it out yourself!” 

She took out a mallet and fused it with a ribbon, creating a sort of whip with the hammer at the end. Then she charged Isaac, ready for a fight. She immediately swung the hammer and it hit the side of his head, knocking him to the right. He nearly hit the ground but he recovered easily. This wasn’t his first rodeo. He moved the side, dashing to the side of Rhodochrosite, and hitting her right in the chest. 

He smirked for a second. “So you’ve got a hammer and ribbon, very unique combination. Only a few gems have those weapons, but let’s go down the list.” Rhodochrosite tried to deliver another punch using her stretchy arms which Isaac managed to keep dodging with ease, delivering counter punch without any trouble. “Your left eye is damaged, and you’re completely pink which means…”

She landed another hit with her hammer which…barely caused Isaac to flinch. He didn’t even recoil. He just stood their with wide eyes. “Spinel? Pink Pearl? It _is_ you…”

Rhodochrosite stood frozen and spoke with a waver in her tone. “Who are you?”

Isaac looked around and then stared at her with a…almost empty look in his eyes. “I’m just like you. Products of Pink Diamond’s failures. That’s what we all are right? Some more than most. Spinel suffered for 6000 years, Pearl…or do you prefer Volleyball, suffered for 8000. I suffered for 5500. Lucky us right? It never gets easier.”

“But I’m going to make it easier.” Isaac had this renewed fire in his eyes. “I’m going to end it. The cycle of pain that we’ve been dealt. And it starts by going to the source. By going to those who still intend to hurt, the unredeemed, the unredeemable. All of these homeworld gems who wanted to kill Steven. And the Diamonds who still haven’t changed.”

Rhodochrosite scowled. “The Diamonds have changed!”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Ah yes, the Diamonds who have changed from tyrannical abusive maniacs, to somewhat better people who still think as Steven as nothing more than the son of Pink.” Then he spoke with a small smile. “And I _know_ Stevonnie can hear me. They know what I’m talking about. But if they won’t come out…Well then…”

He quickly drew out his revolver and shot the structural weakness on the building behind them, causing it to collapse and shatter the Citrine that had collapsed on the ground. She slowly faded out of existence as her pieces flew out from the rubble like shrapnel. 

Rhodochrosite stared at the sight in horror and then stared at Isaac. And Isaac looked…

Vaguely remorseful. “Sorry. But that gem has hurt thousands of lives. And I refused to let it happen to anyone else. The cycle ends here. We must be better than-”

His monologue was interrupted by a loud screaming. Isaac looked confused for a moment as he turned to the source, seeing a Stevonnie charging right towards him. 

He smirked. 

Finally. 

Stevonnie tackled him to the ground and pointed their sword right at his face. “ ** _MURDERER!_** ”

Isaac had an almost giddy look in his eyes. “Well well well. Steven, Connie, and Stevonnie. Pleasure to finally meet my brother, my soldier, and my dear friend. Great to finally see you after all this time.” Then he winced. “The corruption…it looks worse than I thought. I’m so sorry, I know what it’s like to-”

Stevonnie scowled. “Don’t act like you know me.”

Isaac kept his grin. “Well, I at least know Connie. Remember your commanding officer back on Xenon 5? In the Congo?”

Stevonnie looked confused for a moment until their eyes went wide. They nearly broke apart right their and then as the Connie side said three words that nearly broke Steven.

“It really _is_ you.”

“Name’s Isaac Sterling, but you already know that from our previous meetings and your trip inside my head. But you probably think of me more as…a phantom. A ghost. An anomaly that makes no sense. Which is fair. Let me try to clear some things up. Now…” As Rhodochrosite stepped closer, Isaac reached his hand out, and suddenly, a portal formed underneath her and she vanished.

Stevonnie gaped and looked back at Isaac with a scowl as he kept his smirk. 

“What do you say we talk? From one sibling to another?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4! I've been so hyped about this one for a while.  
> There's a lot to unpack here.  
> First, Rhodchrosite. I wasn't originally going to include her this early but I thought that now is a great time for it. Her design is a mish mash of great fanart of Spinel and Pink Pearl's fusion.  
> Next, Isaac. I loved bringing him back like this, and now we get to see more of his characteristics and ability in combat. He's nearly invincible, but he has his own sense of vulnerability which will become clear soon.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one will be on Friday, especially now that I'm off for Christmas Break! If you enjoyed, please leave a comment and I'll see youuuuu soon!


	5. Sterling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Round 1 Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a very brief, non descriptive throw up scene in here so beware.

“ **WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!** ”

Isaac raised his hands up with a sheepish expression. “Relax! You’ve seen Lion’s portal power right? Well, that’s a common thread between us pink folk! I’ve just had about 5000 years to hone it.”

Isaac had this incredulous look in his eyes as Stevonnie’s sword pressed further into his neck. “By the way…was that you in my dream?”

At the slight waver in Stevonnie’s grip, Isaac nodded. “That explains it. So you saw it right? You saw the…the _betrayal_? I know Steven felt it.”

Stevonnie scowled as they felt an anger creep up within their skin. “And that justifies what you’ve done here? The gems you shattered?!”

Isaac had a somber look. “It was more than just that one specific event. But I suppose that was some form of catalyst.”

Stevonnie shouted. “Then **_WHY_ _?!_** ”

And Isaac grinned. “…Stick around and I’ll tell you.”

Suddenly he delivered a kick right to their abdomen, shocking them completely. They jumped back slightly as Isaac delivered a kick to the leg and slid himself back with some sort of rocket device on his legs. Both Stevonnie and Isaac jumped up from the ground and looked at each other face to face. 

Stevonnie got a good look at Isaac, the phantom that haunted Steven’s dreams. He wore a black military jacket, similar to Oscar but it looked…different. There were tones of red throughout his suit. And there was a light emanating from his chest, almost like he was some kind of superhero. He had pink hair on both his beard and his head, but the sides of his hair was cut(not very neatly, it looked like he very hastily cut it). There were bandages wrapped around his arms, and his eyes…

His eyes were distorted. It was like they couldn’t decide what color they were. But their was some veins that were pink. They had bags under them, and all in all, based on what Stevonnie could discern, the man looked very very tired. They almost pitied him, until they remembered the pain he had caused. And then the anger flared up.

Why. 

Why was _another_ person tied to Pink Diamond causing so much pain?

Would the cycle end?

Another person here to threaten everything that Steven held dear, and surprise surprise, they were another product of Rose’s failure.

Wait, no, this time it was a person tied to both Pink Diamond and Rose! Oh _joy_!

Steven’s anger was corrosive and started to effect Connie, who felt anger on behalf of Steven who kept facing this turmoil. Soon both of their anger manifested and Stevonnie felt it too, and thus

Stevonnie turned pink. 

They dashed, no, they _flew_ at Isaac at inhuman speeds and when Stevonnie collided, a shockwave emerged and knocked out what was left of the glass in the settlement.

But Isaac had held up a shield just in time, and he had a stunned expression.

“That’s…new.”

Stevonnie didn’t respond, only screamed in anger as they knocked the shield out of his hand. Before she could deliver a punch right to his skull, Isaac dodged and counter punched right into their side, knocking them to the side. Before Stevonnie could react, Isaac was gone. 

He had vanished from sight. 

But they could hear his whispering, saying some thing in a Norwegian dialect. Stevonnie growled and before they could scream out from taunting, they saw someone struggling to the side. A homeworld gem. 

Stevonnie immediately decolored and ran to lift up the gem, the Kunzite. “Hey, are you okay? My name’s Stevonnie, I can help!”

The Kunzite looked up at Stevonnie and immediately snarled with an almost british accent. “You. _You_. **YOU!** Why are you here?! To mock?! The nerve, I’ll…kill you!”

The Kunzite immediately pulled out a knife and went to swipe at Stevonnie as they gasped, but before any hit could be made, a gunshot rang out. The Kunzite’s gem, the one positioned right at their forehead, had shattered right in front of them. As her form dissipated, Stevonnie held their hand over their mouth in horror. 

They could’ve saved them, they could’ve done something-

“You couldn’t have done anything.”

Stevonnie snapped their head around to look right at Isaac, who stood with a gun poised on his shoulder. The gun’s barrel was smoking.

_He_ did this. 

Issac spoke with remorse laced in his tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to come, I didn’t want this to be the way we finally met. But that Kunzite…they were torturers. Interrogators. And the lives she ruined…She wanted to go back to the times of Era 2. The times where pain and agony was music to her ears. Where it was easy to come by.” He spoke now with conviction, with confidence. “Millions of gems and humans tortured by her! And she intended to come after you! To take away everything you love!”

Stevonnie spoke with tears in their eyes and a waver in their tone. “S-she could’ve changed!”

Isaac froze and smiled mirthlessly. “Seriously? Fine, I guess maybe she could’ve. But she didn’t. It’s been almost ten years since you liberated the galaxy and still people intend to cause harm to you? For what? Because of your Mother? Because of Rose? Or because of Pink?”

Isaac almost scowled. “When will you learn to stop letting these people who have been hurt by Rose and Pink destroy you? How long does it have to take for us to finally be free of the mistakes of _Pink Diamond_?!”

Stevonnie, enraged and once again covered in Pink, dashed at Isaac. He held his arms up, blocking the attack slightly. “ **What do you know about my Mom?! Even now, I am still finding out more of her crimes, more of the lives she ruined! And now here you are, killing Homeworld gems, looking to start it all over again!** ”

Stevonnie threw a punch which Issac dodged, and for the first time, Isaac hit back. A rapid fire punch to the chest that moved almost like lightning. Another one to the jaw, and before he could throw another punch to the chest, Stevonnie held his fist in a lock. But Isaac didn’t waver. 

“I know enough. I know what I’ve seen in person. And if you think that I will be the last person here because of your mother, then you are wrong. There is a whole universe filled with people lives she ruined. And you are right in the center of it.” Energy repelled from Isaac and Stevonnie as the former’s body began to glow. “We are Pink Diamond’s children. The products of her crimes, the products of her failures. And there’s only one way to end the cycle of retaliation.”

Stevonnie pulled out their sword, its blade shining in the rising sun, and tried to slash at Isaac. But he kicked at them before a blow could be delivered, creating a shockwave and knocking them back into another unstable structure. Isaac reeled his leg back and put it back on the ground with a determined look two of Isaac’s soldiers backed him up.

“Retaliation. The only way to end the cycle of retaliation is one final act of retaliation. One final wrong act to end it all. A binding act of revolution against a common tyrant. But you already know my target. It all starts here. I’m done running from Rose’s crimes. From my past. So here I am. 

Righting the wrongs.”

Stevonnie knelt on the ground, stunned and shocked. But they had to get back up. So they jumped up and once again flew at Isaac, but before they could make the trip, the soldiers fired two ropes that tied around Stevonnie’s arms, holding them in place. 

They howled in anger. “ **Enough of your games Isaac! This is a lousy sibling talk. If you want to talk…** ”

Stevonnie pivoted their body, using their entire upper body strength along with Steven’s gem strength, and the soldiers began to move. They began to swing their body, swinging the soldiers with them and as if they were a wrecking ball, their bodies slammed into the buildings, collapsing the foundations and causing a field of rubble to fall apart. 

Stevonnie stopped their spinning and tore the ropes off of their shoulders with a scowl. 

“ **Then talk without any of your theatrics.** ”

Isaac didn’t looked shocked, scared, or even angry. He just looked…kind of down. “…I thought that you like theatrics. Well, shit, what a slap in the face. I had all of this planned out but…ah well, I guess it makes sense. All right, let’s talk…but let me just…change the scene a bit.”

Stevonnie glared and jumped at Isaac and…

Immediately fell into a portal and hit the dirt. The pink slowly started to leave their body as Isaac popped up in front of them. They had their backs to a giant waterfall. The sun was set and now Stevonnie could really see the ashen waste as far as they eye could see. They had heard about this settlement before, they had helped to establish it after all, but this…seemed wrong. Isaac mused, “…I know Steven isn’t a fighter. And while Connie is, I know you try to keep it to a minimum. So what is nagging at you?”

Stevonnie slowly stood up, body now almost completely covered in ash and dirt. They frowned. “…Ending retaliation with more retaliation…don’t you realize that will make things worse! That more people will get hurt! Fire with fire only greats a greater flame!”

Isaac sighed. “It’s been fifteen years since I found out Rose’s secret. At that time, I didn’t immediately want to resort to anger. I wanted to try to move on. But I couldn’t. My body is an eternal reminder of Rose's mistakes and...I am cursed to watch as the world goes by. For five thousand and five hundred years I have seen what gems are capable of. Some are capable of immense good. The Crystal Gems, most in Little Homeschool, those who have made an active effort to do good, to change.” 

“But I have seen that not everyone can change. Rose Quartz died almost twenty seven years ago, and with it, you were the only person left to answer for her crimes. Our planet is the only thing left to answer for her crimes. And even after you brought galactic peace to the galaxy, after you accomplished the impossible, it wasn’t over! Retaliation continues on and on, and will always continue…I swore an oath, thousands of years ago to make sure that the planet would survive no matter what. But most of all, fifteen years ago, I swore an oath to stop running from the past. Sure, no threat is here today. But what about tomorrow? This settlement intended to wipe you out because of your past, your lineage, your family. 

So I refuse to stand and watch as this planet falls into oblivion. And I refuse to keep running from the past. If the Diamonds are gone…if the society and the pain they created is finally reduced to ashes, just like this place…then maybe the cycle can end. All four diamonds have hurt millions, billions of lives. Maybe those who have been hurt by them can never move on…but perhaps they can find some sense of peace.”

Stevonnie looked stunned. Speechless. What could they even say to that? How does one respond to someone so determined, so headstrong in their actions. The means are horrible but…he’s just like them. Who _was_ this guy?

Regardless of who he was, he intended to kill gems, thousands of homeworld gems. And as horrible as they were, as undeserving of forgiveness they may have been, no one deserved to be shattered. Everyone deserved to at least have the chance to change. So there was only one thing left to do.

Stevonnie pulled out their sword and pointed it towards Isaac. They spoke with conviction. “You’re right. I’m not one for violence. But I can’t let you do this! I have to stop you, because I know what this pain…the pain of what Pink Diamond has done can lead you. And I won’t let you take that pain out on others.”

Isaac looked shocked for a moment, then he just spoke dryly. “Well, I guess that’s fair. Can’t really blame you for that. I guess in that case…” A fire seemed to light up in his eyes. “I should stop treating you like a kid and holding back.”

Before Stevonnie could even blink, Isaac had opened a portal next to him, deploying a gun right into his arms. He fired upon them without even a moment of hesitation. They had to scramble to deploy the shield, but once they did, it started to reflect the bullets back at Isaac. But they didn’t seem to be hitting him.

They ran forward, shield raised as the bullets continued to fire and fire and fire. The sparks bounced off of the shield along with the bullets. Some ricocheted, some reflected, some were crushed on impact. But as Stevonnie tried to slam Isaac with the shield, he was gone again. 

Before they could ponder it, they felt a punch to their abdomen. They looked at the direction it came from and saw nothing. Then they felt another punch to the jaw. Again, nothing. And then a whole flurry of punches, and before Stevonnie could realize it, Isaac was moving faster than light. They had no idea if he was teleporting or if he really was that fast. 

A kick to the spine had them screaming and sent them sprawling on the ground. Stevonnie hit the dirt again and spit it out, anger bubbling within them as they turned pink one last time. Before Isaac could deliver a kick to their side, Stevonnie caught his foot, making his eyes widen, and used all of their force to slam them onto the dirt. 

They jumped up from the ground with a smirk. “ **Doesn’t feel good does it?!** ”

And Isaac laughed. “Maybe not. But us berserkers, us soldiers are knocked down all the time. The key is…”

He opened up a portal beneath him, and he was gone yet again. But then a punch came from above them. It knocked their head down, which Isaac used to jump in front of them and deliver an uppercut and another flurry of punches. “Knowing when to **GET!** ” One punch to the chest. “ **BACK**!” A kick to the knee. “ **UP!** ” And a punch to the face. 

But right as another punch was supposed to knock down Stevonnie, they caught it once again. Another smirk. “I couldn’t. Agree. **MORE!** ”

They pulled out their sword and slashed at Isaac’s chest, causing him to scream out. Another slash and another, and soon his combat suit was nearly ripped apart. Their pink instincts took over and before they could even think about what they were doing…

They stabbed Isaac right through the chest. He groaned out in slight pain as Stevonnie gasped, the pink instantly leaving their body. “Oh…Oh my god I am so so sorry I didn’t mean to! I was just…I just…”

But Isaac smiled. And right then, Stevonnie felt a grave fear, enough to rival the fear they felt when White Diamond went to pluck out Steven’s gem. Maybe even worse. Because this was the smile of someone with _nothing_ to lose. 

“No worries sibling. I guess it was time I showed you a little secret of my own.” 

He lifted his hand up and slammed down on the sword, breaking it in half. Stevonnie was speechless as Isaac lifted himself off of the ground and ripped the piece of the sword still in his chest out of it, with no trouble whatsoever. 

But the blood left on the sword. 

It was _pink_. 

But that wasn’t as harrowing as what happened next.

Isaac’s combat shirt finally ripped, revealing Isaac’s chest. 

There was scar after scar from the sword slashing, but they had healed up instantly. There were scars from other incidents too: from sword scars, to bullet holes, to every type of wound imaginable. There were runic symbols, sketched out in red. 

But compared to what was in the center of his chest, that was nothing.

Because there was a brand of the Diamond Authority symbol, with all four diamonds on it, with a star drawn in red on top of it. The brand was _glowing_ with an eerie _red_. No amount of healing could ever fix it it seemed. 

Stevonnie came undone at the sight, splitting back into Steven and Connie who both gaped. The former stepped forward, on the verge of throwing up, and spoke with a waver. “How did…what? _Who are you?_ ”

Isaac grinned, throwing the blade to the ground. “Like I said. A phantom cursed with immortality. A remnant from a time long gone. A soldier.” He sighed. “But in the past I was something else. An inhabitant of a simple village. A son. A warrior. 

An old friend.

But that doesn’t matter anymore now does it?”

Connie stepped forward, tears threatening to burst out of her eyes. “Y-you can stop this! You don’t have to hurt anyone else, we can figure this out!”

Isaac scoffed. “No, I don’t think so. Not yet anyways. Here’s what you need to do, Steven. Ask the gems for answers. Do your search. Learn the facts. And then find me. Find me right at home.”

He saluted with two fingers with a wide grin. “But until then, Connie, it was a pleasure seeing you again. You are still as great of a fighter as you were five years ago. And Steven?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “ ** _Se deg rundt bror._** ”

Isaac threw himself off of the waterfall, and before Steven could dive after him, a portal opened underneath him and Connie and sent them flying into a wall. The two of them picked themselves off of the floor and soon realized they were back in the settlement, inside the wreckage of one of the houses. 

Steven and Connie tried to walk outside and see what they missed…

And were once again ripped apart by the sight.

There was a pile of shards, shattered gem shards all piled up in the center of the city. Peridots, Lapises, Aquamarines, Agates, even some Amethysts, and a few Kunzites right in the center of it all.

Thankfully in the distance they could see Spinel and Volleyball tending the wounds to some surviving Jades, Tanzanites, and more…

But on top of the carnage was a sign. A simple three word sign that didn’t take immense knowledge of Norse mythology to discern:

**_We are Ragnarok_**. 

Steven’s thoughts began to spiral and spiral and spiral until finally

He threw up.

Connie collapsed on the floor behind him, holding what remained of the talwar’s handle and throwing it to the side. She started to sob in pain as the injuries of Stevonnie started to catch up to her. It would be healed, sure but…

What just happened in the span of twenty minutes may not.

Steven was sobbing too, hands shaking furiously as he felt lost for the first time in a very long time. Isaac was someone who had been through more pain than anyone he had ever met. But he was still standing. Standing immortal no less.

How do you stop someone like that?

_Should he even stop him?_

For nearly a millisecond, Steven could have sworn he saw the dirt, the ashen waste come to life. It went by too quick to comprehend fully, but he definitely saw the traces of fire in the ash. But also…snow.

And at that moment, Steven became acutely aware of where they were. 

Norway.

They were in _Norway_.

Years ago, Steven and the gems had the idea of building a settlement out here. Once they got approval from the United Nations and the Norwegian government, who had started to adore the gem population, it was just a matter of locating it and building it. They thought why not build it somewhat near a snowy like area but also an old isolated area, so it could serve as a peaceful sanctuary for travelers. 

But this place…

It had far more history to it, right? 

Wasn’t the gem battlefield, a location of a historic battlefield that took place…

_5000 years ago._

Isaac. 

He was the key. 

The key to an entire web of lies, deceit, and secrets. 

Steven stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes. He could see Spinel and Volleyball noticing them and walking towards them quickly, but he didn’t care.

He looked at Connie who was also starting to calm down and immediately asked the most burning question on his mind.

“Connie…you studied Norwegian for a bit right? What…what did Isaac say?”

She looked confused for a second, like she expected something else to be said. Not mad or anything just confused.

But then she thought for a second, trying to recall her brief knowledge of the language. And once she scrounged together the words she did know, her eyes went wide. 

“…He said…he said 

‘See you around brother.’”

And once again,

Steven could feel his heart sink. 

* * *

Isaac let the current and flow of the water take him under. He felt at peace even in the freezing cold. It felt like home. 

_Home._

What a strange idea to him. Was home this place? His former village? 

Was it the friends he once had? The friends he has now?

Or was he doomed to never have a home ever again?

It didn’t matter anyways. The mission had been completed, everyone(including Oscar who had been knocked out) had gotten out safely. And Steven and Connie were okay. 

He really didn’t mean to hurt them both that bad. He could have stopped himself from doing that if he wanted to but…he didn’t. He didn’t know if he could stop himself from doing it again. 

But maybe a fight would be good for the three of them. It would establish perhaps that it would take more than just redemption to end this?

Isaac wasn’t sure, he needed to think on it a bit. 

Still though, the two of them put up a damn good fight. And while the events set in motion from what just happened would be primarily out of his control. 

As Isaac was pulled in by his ride, he resolved himself to keep moving forward and focus on what he could control.

And besides, whether it was out of his control or not…

He just knew he’d be seeing Steven again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, and happy holidays! I was originally going to release this on Christmas, but I figured with as important as this chapter was, it seemed fitting to release it on a Friday.  
> There was a lot to unpack here. In terms of Isaac, there is way more to unpack in regards to his story, his methods, and his past. And as for Stevonnie, their anger came out of a place of just frustration and rage at Isaac's actions, so their pink side emerged and tried the unthinkable. Deep down they knew it wouldn't kill Isaac, but the action of it still haunted them.  
> Fun little details: The idea of Isaac's brand being red is both a fun aesthetic and a little nudge at the idea of a Red Diamond that was thrown around for a bit. Also Stevonnie's "What do you know about my mom?!" is a fun little nod to Steven's rant to Lars(who is also Pink now, how curious)  
> The repercussions of this event will be emphasized in the coming chapters, but for now, thank you for reading and please leave a comment if you enjoyed, and I'll see you guys on Monday!


	6. Every Journey Starts With Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The web of lies begins to unravel.

“Duuuuude, you were awesome back there!”

“As much as I disagree with Amethyst’s phrasing, you did fairly well for your first sparring run! You have the potential to be a great warrior!”

“…Ditto.”

Lars smiled sheepishly as him, Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet emerged from the temple warp pad. “I mean, I guess. I have a lot of improvements to do, and I don’t know about the weapon. I can handle blasters just fine but swords just…aren’t my thing.”

Pearl exclaimed. “That’s fine! Every good warrior has their own weapon of choice, that suits their combat style. Judging by how you try to move fast, but still put some weight into your swings, I’d say an axe or some sort of hammer would do you some good.”

Amethyst grinned. “Oooooo, a hammer or axe would be awesome! With a hammer you could like,” She shape-shifted into a buff blonde man with armor and a hammer in his right arm, “ **Thor, God of Thunder!** ”

Lars snickered and shoved Amethyst slightly as even Garnet chuckled a bit. “I’d be okay with that. A hammer does sound nice.”

Garnet then shoved Lars, almost sending him tumbling to the ground. “Well be sure not to copy Spinel’s fighting style too much, you know she’s attached to her mallet.”

Pearl raised her finger as if she was about to give a speech, and immediately Garnet regretted all of her life decisions. “Please, a traditional hammer is far different to a mallet. There are several different types of hammers and fighting styles that are associated with them. First, there is the…”

As Pearl started to ramble on, both Lars and Amethyst stopped and looked at Garnet with a glare. She sighed. “…I am _so_ sorry.”

But Pearl was undeterred. “…With a mallet you are limited purely by an overhead swing, but with a hammer, you have a variety of different options for-” Then her eyes went wide in confusion. “Hey, where is Steven? He should have come to greet us by now and listen to my nice lecture on the intricacy of hammers!”

Lars groaned but then he looked around and saw that, indeed, Steven was nowhere to be found. He tried calling out to him, hoping that if that lazy jerk was asleep, it would wake him up. “ **STEVEN! GET UP YOU _NERD!_** ”

Pearl gasped. “Lars! Don’t be rude!”

Amethyst put her hand on her chin before he could retort. “I think he said he was going to practice his talent show gig with Connie on the hill?”

Pearl exclaimed. “Of course! He should definitely be there, without a doubt!”

* * *

“He’s not here.”

Lars facepalmed as he looked around on the mountain, seeing no signs of Steven or Connie. Amethyst was also looking around while Pearl

Was being Pearl.

“ **WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO HIM?! HE SHOULD BE RIGHT HERE! I SWEAR IF THAT YOUNG MAN DOESN’T COME OUT NOW I’LL-** ”

As Amethyst attempted to calm down Pearl, Lars immediately noticed that Garnet was hyper fixated on something on the ground. He walked over to where she was walking and saw a giant hole in the ground. It had been forcefully dug out with no ordinary shovel. Now Lars was a tad bit concerned. But then he looked at Garnet and saw her lost in thought. “Hey uh…can your future vision help here?”

Garnet looked at Lars for a moment, and then adjusted her glasses just slightly. And then she gaped. “Something’s wrong.”

Before Lars could ask anything more, a voice came running up to them. 

“ **GUYS! SOMETHING’S WRONG!** ”

The four of them all turned to see Peridot, Bismuth, and Lapis all running up to them with panicked expressions. Peridot spoke with eyes wide and a fearful expression. “One of our Homeworld settlements in Norway was attacked.”

Pearl immediately gasped. “What?!”

Amethyst stepped forward with a concerned look. “Do you know who did it?”

As Lars kept looking at Garnet with a slight glare, Bismuth shook her head. “No, we don’t but…”

Lapis growled and shouted. “Steven was the one who called, now can we just go already?!”

Lars looked at her with wide eyes. “Steven?! But how did he get there so fast? Norway is on the other side of the world and there’s not exactly any convenient way to get there!”

Pearl looked deeply concerned. “More than that, why would he be there in the first place without telling us?”

Garnet just shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is getting there, assessing the damage, and getting out of there without any trouble. Of course we need to make sure Steven and presumably Connie is okay. Then we can interrogate them about why they were there in the first place.”

She then looked at Lars. “Do you still have the Sun Incinerator?”

Lars smirked. “Of course I do.”

“Good. Once we get to the ship, tell us what to do Peridot.

We have a classic rescue mission on our hands.”

Garnet looked at the others with a determined expression, and soon they shared it with her. 

“Now let’s do it.”

* * *

If there were two things that made Lars feel at peace, it was baking and flying. His experiences with the Off Colors had defined him and it was nice to finally have something to hold on to. 

Especially after he _died_. He never expected that him dying would be an educational experience for him. Ironically, he had never felt more alive than after he had died. He now had great friends, a better understanding of his life, and well, he just felt happier. He owed everything to Steven Universe. 

Sure there was some draw backs. Watching everyone he loved grow old around him, looking twenty five despite technically been in his thirties, but…well, he would figure that out as time went on. For now, Sadie still loved him. Even if it was just as a friend. And that was all he needed right now.

Practicing sparring with Pearl had been his idea. He was visiting the Earth to take a break from the space trekking, and while Sadie had been visiting, he went to Pearl. He wanted to be a better fighter just in case anything went wrong. As he unfortunately learned from Steven, anything could happen when it came to the Earth. There were always people that came to Earth looking for trouble. He wasn’t really sure if it was because humanity just attracted that kind of attention or if it was Steven’s mom, but he just knew he should be ready. 

He managed to drag the Off Colors and Sadie with him while Shep had been shopping for both them and Sadie. And well, they were definitely amused(they all cheered and Padparadscha did her best to help out in battle, bless her heart). But it was nice. It was a nice way to spend the day.

But he wasn’t expecting to the spend the day going to Norway to save Steven from some kind of grave danger. 

Still. At least he got a chance to fly. 

He turned back to the other anxious gems from his captain seat with a small smile. “…You guys want to listen to any tunes?”

There was a brief silence until Peridot screamed. “ **YES!** …Please put on some music.”

Lars smiled and just put on the radio. There was some old song the dark side of the moon or something. It was pretty depressing, but at least it sounded nice. 

He could overhear the conversations from the seats on the Sun Incinerator behind him. Pearl spoke softly. “Where is Lapis?”

Peridot sighed. “She wanted to fly ahead. She wasn’t exactly up for patiently waiting to get to Norway…which makes sense I guess.”

Amethyst grinned. “So…you two still going strong? I know you guys just started dating!”

Peridot had a completely deadpan expression. “Amethyst we’ve been married for five years now.”

Amethyst chuckled nervously. “Yeah, but have you seen Garnet?! Five years is nothing!” Then she turned to Pearl. “And how about you and Volleyball?! Is your relationship still going strong?!”

“We just had a dinner date yesterday.”

Amethyst groaned. “Just bear with me here! I’m trying to lighten the mood!”

Pearl and Peridot both looked at each other and then back at Amethyst. 

And they just gave a thumbs up. 

Amethyst face palmed while Bismuth got up and walked over to Lars. “How much longer is the trip? I don’t think I can take any more of the bickering.”

Lars chuckled and flipped a few switches on the control panel, then smiled. “No need to worry. We’re here.”

Bismuth sighed in relief and looked outside, expecting to see the wonderful sights of Norway. She had been here before and it was traditionally a beautiful place, right up her alley. 

But when she saw what remained of the settlement, she gasped. 

“Oh my stars.”

The other gems immediately looked outside and shared the same reaction, while Lars felt his hands subconsciously shake. They’d never seen anything like this. Sure, settlements on Earth had been attacked before, but _nothing_ like this.

He could just barely spot Lapis on the ground doing her best to help and…wait a minute.

“Is that Spinel?”

Peridot’s eyes went wide and she pulled up a camera she had deployed just a bit ago and saw not just Spinel, but Volleyball too. 

Pearl now looked very concerned. “What are they doing here?”

Garnet sighed. “I don’t know. But we’re going to find out.”

Lars flipped some switches and made a maneuver to land. It took a while to figure out how to operate landing gears on gem vehicles, but once he figured it out, he realized it wasn’t too hard. 

He landed on the ground, and the amount of destruction that had occurred in this settlement was unreal. Lars immediately opened the cargo bay and ran to it. He knew the gems followed him, but that didn’t matter to him. He just needed to see if his friend was okay. 

As the cargo bay opened, he was afraid he’d have to run all the way across town to find him. But his worries were soon put to rest when he saw Steven right there, holding on to an injured gem and giving her support. Connie stood by his side, held up by both Volleyball and Lapis, along with Spinel who was holding a few gems with her stretchy arms. 

Steven’s expression…even in the darkest of times, even when he was near death, even when he was being corrupted, he did his best to smile and stay hopeful. But his expression looked well and truly _broken_ and traumatized. 

Steven’s eyes went wide at the sight of Lars and the other gems behind him. He looked about ready to cry, and so did Pearl and the others.

She spoke with a waver in her voice. “S-Steven?”

Lars tried to speak too. “Hey pal. How uh…how’s it going?” He stumbled with his words, trying to figure out what to say until he was left speechless. 

Steven had hugged him. 

He started crying uncontrollably into his shoulder as Connie ran into Pearl’s arms for a hug. Lars could vaguely hear Amethyst yelling at Spinel for an explanation, but that didn’t matter to him at the moment. All that did matter was the person in his hands. 

Lars was older than Steven, but because of his curse it didn’t look it. But no matter what happened, he would always think of Steven as his baby brother. So he just held his friend as tightly as possible, promising not to let go, all the while Steven wailed in his shoulder. 

All the while Lars wondered what happened to make Steven this traumatized

* * *

Three hundred survivors. In a settlement of a thousand gems, there were three hundred survivors. 

700 gems were wiped out like it was nothing. That in itself was an atrocity, but as Steven glanced over the files Peridot had given him, he realized that all 700 gems that were wiped out had a criminal record on Earth, and a history of violence on Homeward. Some had shattered thousands of gems, some had tortured just as much, some were just known for perpetuating a cycle of violence. 

So Isaac had reason to kill these gems. It didn’t justify it, and Isaac knew that. He knew what he was doing was wrong. 

If there was one thing Steven hasn’t learned in fifteen years is that he can’t help everyone. Sometimes it occurs to him that some people are just beyond his help. But for the most part, he’ll do whatever it takes to help someone. 

But Isaac…

For some reason he felt like he had to help him. But does his crimes change his chance of redemption?

Steven thought about it and realized that no, it didn’t. Jasper shattered countless gems, and she was still redeemable. Who knows how many people were hurt because of Lapis? Same with Peridot. And the Diamonds…

No, no crime should be enough to end someone’s chance of redemption. 

So why did this whole situation feel…off to him?

Why did he feel such a strong connection to Isaac?

And why could he hear someone shouting at him-

“ **STEVEN!** ”

Ah. Lars.

Steven jumped up and hit his head on the lamp on the reading table. He was sitting inside the temple while Connie got some rest on Steven’s bed, and the other gems helped the survivors settle in. Lars was here with him. It was afternoon but…it really felt like it had been a day since the attack. 

“Owwwww.”

Lars facepalmed. “You idiot. This is what you get for daydreaming, I am literally sitting right next to you!”

Steven groaned. “Sorry sorry, what were we talking about?”

“…We were talking about what happened out there! Looking over the survivor reports and talking about just-”

Steven started to get frustrated. “I get it, I get it, I’m just waiting for the gems to get back!”

Lars raised an eyebrow. “The gems? Why?”

“Because they know something about what happened.”

Steven and Lars looked up to see Connie descending from the stairs with a deadpan expression. The former immediately stood up with concern. “Connie, you’re supposed to be asleep!”

Connie narrowed her eyes. “Well, one, you guys are too damn loud. And two…after what happened out there, I couldn’t sleep.”

Steven scoffed bitterly. “Yeah, fair enough.”

Lars though took up the path of concern. “Did you end up calling your Mom?”

She nodded. “Yeah. She was absolutely terrified but I made her promise to try helping the gems first. They would probably need a lot of help after what happened.”

Steven lowered his head. “You think these guys will change? Do you think they’ll stop hating us?”

Lars sighed. “Well according to the incident report, these gems were fairly reasonable. Besides, an experience like that is enough to make anyone change.” Then his expression changed to one of concern. “Now what is this you’re saying about the gems knowing who Isaac is?”

Before Connie or Steven could say anything, as if on cue, the gems walked in. They all sulked walking in, except Amethyst who was talking to Spinel(or at least trying to), Volleyball who was holding on to Pearl, and Peridot who was talking to Lapis and trying to keep their spirits high. Even Bismuth looked conflicted. Everyone took a seat and released an exhale of relief. 

Lars quickly whispered to the two humans in front of him. “Okay, if you guys are right, then be cool.”

Connie nodded, but Lars couldn’t help but notice that Steven did not. 

_Oh no._

Pearl was the first to speak, noticing that Connie was awake. “Connie! You should be resting right now after injuries we saw on you!”

Connie sighed with a small smile. “I’m fine ma’am. Steven healed me up, I’m just a bit tired. How is everyone?”

Bismuth sighed. “The survivors are traumatized, exhausted, and scared out of their wits, but they’re recovering.”

Lapis nodded. “We’ve got the best doctors and therapists on the scene.”

Peridot smiled softly. “They’ll be fine, trust me Connie.”

Connie nodded, satisfied. But then an eerie silence. At that moment she realized that depending on who spoke first, this conversation could either go very smoothly, or very…

Not smoothly.

And then Garnet spoke with concern and some anger in her voice. “Steven…why were you out in Norway?”

Connie winced. Not smoothly it was.

Steven couldn’t help the scowl that emerged on his face. “I don’t know, what does your future vision say?”

Pearl gasped. “Steven! Watch your tone!”

Garnet barely batted an eye and stood up. “My future vision tells me many things, but you going to Norway wasn’t a part of that. Why were you there?! Why didn’t you tell us about your dream?!”

Amethyst’s eyes went wide. “Dream? What dream?” Then she scowled. “Are you still lying to us even now?”

Steven was starting to clench his fists and immediately Spinel, Volleyball, Connie, and Lars noticed. Spinel was the first to try to mediate. “Uh guys, maybe we should chill out a bit?”

Volleyball tried to step in. “Yeah, let Steven talk-”

But Garnet kept going. “I thought after what happened, after how much pressure you put yourself through, you would stop keeping secrets from us.” She spoke somberly. “But I guess not.”

Pearl spoke with an attempt at a soft tone. “Steven, you could have been hurt out there! Why won’t you tell us what’s wrong, do you still not trust us after all this time?”

That did it.

Lars knew it, Connie knew it, everyone knew it except the main gems. 

Steven didn’t need to turn pink to let the gems know he’d had enough. 

“Trust? **TRUST?!** You want to talk about trust?! After ten years you are still keeping what my mom did from me!”

Everyone(except Connie) recoiled like they had been punched in the face. Pearl felt herself trembling. “Steven what…what are you talking about?”

But Steven just growled and started screaming. “Connie, Spinel, Volleyball, and I got our asses handed to us by a _pink_ soldier who claimed to know you guys! He was very human and very strong and we saw him kill two gems right in front of us! He had a giant diamond brand on his chest and fucking threw himself off of a waterfall! And he kept calling me brother!”

“I don’t think…” He almost looked like he was ready to cry again. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life. And then he goes and tells me that he knew you guys and I…I thought that you were done keeping secrets about my Mom. You want to talk about trust? It seems like you guys never trusted me at all…”

Steven looked like he was on the verge of collapsing and breaking down, but Connie and Lars held him and tried to calm him down. Spinel and Lapis went to him too, but the others…Amethyst especially looked to Garnet and Pearl. 

And both of them looked mortified. 

The latter was the first to speak. “Steven I…I am so sorry but…did you say the person was pink?”

Lars immediately felt his blood go cold as Connie spoke. “Yeah…I knew the guy from my time in the intergalactic military five years ago. His name was Isaac Sterling and he was Norwegian. He was my commanding officer. He wasn't pink when I met him, I guess he had make up or something, but he was a great guy. He was kind, caring, but also fierce and determined. Almost like Steven. But he was the best fighter I’ve ever met. I never thought I’d see him like this.”

Now Bismuth was looking at Pearl and Garnet with wide eyes. “Wait a second…I thought that he-”

Garnet interrupted her. “What else did he say?”

Volleyball spoke softly, now terrified. “He said that he was a product of Pink Diamond’s failures and that he’s been suffering for five thousand and five hundred years. “

Spinel nodded. “He kept shattering horrible gems and kept rambling about ending the cycle of pain.”

Garnet looked to Pearl. “It’s impossible, I saw him-”

And then finally Pearl spoke, even as Steven was sobbing and everyone was starting to look at the three of them. “…A brand on his chest…was there a star on top of it?”

Steven stopped dead. His sobbing stopped immediately as he felt his entire body freeze. He scowled just slightly but anger was not the emotion he was feeling right now. Dread. That was it.

“…You _do_ know him.”

Connie was now staring wide eyed at Pearl as she covered her mouth and tears started to flow down her cheek. Garnet took off her glasses and Bismuth looked at both of them with a scowl. “You…told me he was dead. You told me he died in the Corruption.” She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “So _**explain to me why Connie and Steven were ATTACKED BY HIM! WHY** **DID MY FRIEND ATTACK ROSE’S KID!**_ ” 

Garnet spoke with a waver. “Bismuth I-”

Then Connie scowled. “You guys better explain yourself. Steven and I nearly **DIED OUT THERE, AND NOW WE ARE SITTING HERE TRAUMATIZED AS HELL! SO YOU BETTER TELL ME WHY THIS GUY SAYS HE KNEW YOU!** ”

Before anyone else could get mad at Pearl and Garnet, or before they broke down even more, Lars shouted, “ **ENOUGH!** ”

Everyone froze and looked at him. “Look, I am just as angry as you are. But we can’t get any answers if we are just yelling at the only people who have our answers. Right Steven?”

Connie looked at Lars with a glare. “You can’t be serious Lars, they-”

But Steven straightened up and looked determined, fire fading from his eyes. “No…no he’s right. I’m upset, sure. But it isn’t fair to you guys to just keep yelling at each other. I want to find out who this guy is so that we can stop him…or help him. And if what Bismuth just said is any indication…he’s a friend. So…I’m sorry Garnet. I’m sorry for Pearl, for getting angry.”

Garnet exhaled in relief, sitting down on the couch, and Pearl wiped a tear from her eyes, moving the hands from her mouth. “Oh. Don’t…don’t be sorry. You have every right to be upset.”

She moved to face all of the gems, all of her friends here in this room with a look of shame. “I should’ve told you this far earlier.”

Steven sighed. “What’s past is past. Just…who is this guy?”

Garnet spoke with the most defeated expression he had ever heard from her. “It’s more complicated than that Steven.”

Lapis, who had been quiet for the most part, spoke with a serious tone. “Why? What makes it so complicated?”

Pearl finally summed up the courage to speak, knowing full well the consequences of this whole conversation. “Because we didn’t know him as Isaac Sterling. We knew him as Baldur Odinson and…He wasn’t just our friend…”

“He was one of the original four founders of the Crystal Gems.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! This chapter is the big one. We start to see more of Isaac's background, and we even learn his real name!   
> This week is going to be interesting, as I am going to release another chapter on Wednesday and Friday. Think of it as a mini Steven Bomb.   
> Lars is going to play a big role in the coming chapters, so it was important to include him. I had to retcon some stuff because of Future, but it worked out tbh.   
> Once again, I hope I got the characters of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot, and Lapis right. One of the main things I wanted to emphasize was the concept of brotherhood present throughout all the Crystal Gems. Human or not, they're all a part of the team. And since they've been through literal hell, it makes sense that they'd be even more of a family than before.  
> There is a lot of fun little details in this chapter that I would love to see if you picked on. For example, the song that Lars plays is Brain Damage by Pink Floyd(yes there will be some irl songs in here because I don't know how to write songs thank you very much)  
> But all and all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment if you did and tell me your thoughts and theories, and I'll see you Wednesday!


	7. Unravelling

“So you’ve completely destroyed a town of the most horrible gems in the universe, started our plan that has been in the work for fifteen years, and encountered both Connie and Steven in the best case scenario. What are you going to do now?”

Isaac walked up to a cabinet inside his ship with a grin. “I…am going to have a drink.”

Weimar laughed. “Good plan.” 

Isaac threw a can of beer over to Weimar which he caught swiftly. They both opened the cans as their carbonation fizzed out. Both of them slowly took a swig as Isaac started to think. 

The whole circumstances in Norway could’ve gone better, for sure. He didn’t mean to hurt Steven and Connie like that. He knew there was no other way to approach the situation but…man if he didn’t feel guilty. 

And plus, he wasn’t exactly confident that Steven confronting the other gems would go well per se. 

“What are you thinking about?”

Isaac looked up to see Weimar staring at him with a light smile. Isaac scoffed. “No use lying to you, huh?”

“Nope.”

“…If we left this life. If we stopped our plans right here, right now, what would you do?”

Weimar narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? After all this time?”

“Just indulge me please.”

Weimar took a second to think. Sure he’d thought about it but it wasn’t exactly a priority or something he had to actively worry about. “I don’t know, I guess it’d be nice to start a coffee shop.”

Isaac grinned. “A coffee shop? How come?”

“Because coffee shops are nice peaceful places, they’re very calm, and I get to put my talents to use!”

“You are very good at making coffee.”

Weimar snorted and the two of them just started laughing. It felt nice to have a moment to destress. Weimar tried to speak through the laughter. “Listen, it’s not my fault I’ve been classically trained!”

Isaac grinned. “Yeah, classically trained five thousand years ago!” 

The two of them just kept laughing and laughing as if they had nothing to worry about. But after they had calmed down a bit, Weimar smiled lightly. “What about you? What would you do?”

Isaac responded almost instantly. “Start a delivery service.”

Weimar’s eyes went wide. “…Why though?”

“To help people. That’s all I want to do. Help people. Make deliveries across the universe, to gems and humans alike. Maybe it can help someone. Give them some semblance of joy.”

Weimar stretched with a small smile. “You haven’t changed at all have you?”

Isaac finally finished his beer and stood up. “I don’t know about that.”

Weimar narrowed his eyes yet again. “Where are you going?”

“If I am going to fight Steven again…” Isaac sighed. “Well, I’m going to need to arm up.”

Weimar immediately stood up. “Seriously? Are you sure you can handle that?”

“Not like I have much choice. Just make sure the others are okay and ready for what comes next…and pass out some beer to them too. They may need it.”

Isaac walked off into his own private room. He went straight to the safe and was about to open it until he froze. He never wanted to open this damn safe ever again, but…he had too. He hated looking back at his past, he hated having to realize that what he was doing was wrong. Because in many ways Steven was right and he could not bring himself to fight his friends like this-

No. No, he promised himself that he was done running. He could not keep running from his past. If he did…nothing good would come from it.

So he unlocked the safe with a code he had created long ago: 369

And it revealed a sword. A giant mythical sword created a long long time ago. Isaac could see the embers oozing off of it, and the light emanating from the center. The light of a Diamond. He picked it up by the hilt and could feel the weight of it in his hands. He looked down at his bandages, trying to reassure himself. 

He looked at the runic writing inscribed on the side. _Hofund_. Bismuth did him the favor of letting him help with the weapon, and allowed him to teach her some of his knowledge on the runic language and some old weapon making techniques.

This sword was meant to bring peace to the planet, and ward off any invaders. 

And now…he had to use it for something a bit more sinister. 

As he clamped the sword to his back, he hoped that Steven was faring a bit better than him.

* * *

**“WHAT?!”**

“You are joking.”

“ **ARE YOU SERIOUS?!** ”

“…Yeah, no, this is ridiculous.”

All of the people in the temple reacted in their own way to the news. Steven, Connie, Lars, and Spinel just shouted, Lapis looked angry as hell, Peridot looked baffled, Volleyball looked like she had been personally victimized, and Amethyst looked like she was going to punch someone. 

Steven was the first to voice what everyone was thinking. “So you mean to tell me that five thousand years ago, there was a human on the team before me? Why? And wait, I thought you said I was unlike anything you’d ever faced before! Did you lie then too?!”

Pearl immediately shook her hands. “No, no! That wasn’t a lie. We had encountered humans before, you know that, but we had never seen a gem hybrid like you!”

Lars narrowed his eyes. “But you guys have seen people that were pink like me? I know Lion was brought back from the dead, but you said there was more?!”

Spinel nodded. “We saw hundreds of trees in Lion’s mane.”

Lars gaped. “ **I’M SORRY WHAT?!** ”

Before anyone could say anything else, Connie shouted. “I’m sorry, back up! Did you just say Baldur Odinson? As in god of light Baldur? The god who can only die by mistletoe? And wait, Odinson?! As in, Thor **ODINSON?! IS THOR REAL?!** ”

Everyone immediately looked to Pearl and Garnet. Steven and Lars had wide eyes as Pearl spoke. “…yes and no.”

“ **WHAT DO YOU MEAN YES AND NO?!** ”

Before anything else could happen, Volleyball spoke up. “Okay, we should probably listen to what these guys have to say before we pass anymore judgement. Or ask anymore questions.”

The others tried to relax a bit while Pearl released another exhale. “Thank you Pearl...it means a lot.”

Volleyball smiled lightly despite herself. “Don’t thank me yet. Just explain, please.”

Everyone looked to her now, but she was so afraid. She didn’t know what to say, but before she could say anything, Garnet spoke first. I guess her future vision told her she needed to get the ball rolling. 

“You guys know the story of how I met Rose and Pearl, right? Well…”

Pearl finally found the courage to speak. “Before the revolution was truly a revolution, Rose Quartz and I saw fit to causing trouble around Homeworld settlements and colonizers, scaring the other gems off of the planet. When we met Garnet, she joined our cause, but it wasn’t enough. While we dealt some key blows here and there, there wasn’t enough of us to truly make a difference.”

“We had been pushed back into a settlement we were unfamiliar with: Scandinavia.”

Connie raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute, I thought that Scandinavia wasn’t truly settled into until the late BC era, not five thousand years ago.”

Pearl smiled softly. “I’m glad you remember that much from your studies. Back then, it was simply a small settlement. A village in the middle of nowhere, completely surrounded by mountains of snow as far as the eye could see.”

“It was one of the first times we had ever truly come into contact with humans in their natural habitat and we were in awe.”

She paused for a moment, smiling fondly when she thought back to that time. She almost frowned when she remembered how it had all gone wrong. Truth was…well, Isaac meant a lot to her and well…

She wanted him to be alive for so long, but not like this.

Before she could dwell on those thoughts any longer she heard the sound of…

Popcorn?

Pearl looked up and saw the others staring at her with miscellaneous drinks and snacks. She smiled. She guessed it was always a special occasion when there was a story from the past to tell. 

Steven smiled while eating popcorn. “So? What happened next?”

Pearl smiled. “We met an entire village of people, in a place they called Midgard.” Connie squealed lightly as she continued. “These people were amazingly kind and caring. But through it all, one person emerged. Someone unlike anyone we had ever met before. 

A true paragon of virtue.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So y'know that whole Steven Bomb thing I wanted to do?
> 
> ...I started the New Year with a goddamn fever.  
> Fuuuuuck.  
> Anyways, Happy Late New Year everyone! This chapter is a short one. Mainly because it leads into what is my longest chapter so far at 7,000 words.  
> I'm also trying a new thing in terms of the spacing(and I'm just not double spacing it), so please tell me what you think of it in regards to the format.  
> There are a lot of fun little hints and nods here to Norse mythology and just...general fun nods and teases, and I'm once again curious to see your thoughts.   
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did, please tell me your thoughts!  
> And I'll see you Monday  
> (I hope)


	8. A Humble Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Come one, come all! Grab a snack, a drink, and take your seats. And listen, to the tale of the Paragon of Virtue and founding member of the Crystal Gems. Listen to the tale of Baldur Odinson.

_About five thousand five hundred years ago._

_Before the Dawn of the Crystal Gems_

“What is this place?”

“According to my logs Rose, it’s…right in the middle of nowhere. A perfect place to lay low for now.”

Garnet giggled lightly. “You have no idea where this is, do you?”

Pearl shouted out in frustration. “Garnet, I’m doing my best here”

Eventually, both Rose and Garnet giggled, walking through the snowy forests in order to find a place to just…well, as Pearl said:

Lay low. 

So they found their way here, pretty much nowhere. There should have been no inhabitants, no other colonizers or gems, just nature and some Animalia. 

But nothing ever really went their way nowadays.

Pearl cut her way through the last tree and immediately went on guard. Rose peeked through the trees, along with Garnet. “Pearl? What’s wrong-?”

But Pearl just immediately retorted. “Shhh! Look!”

There was a village. 

A whole village of people. 

There were tents everywhere as far as the eye could see. They were built out of some form of straw? It was hard to tell.

But what Pearl could very easily tell was that there were creatures in these tents. 

A _lot_ of creatures. 

Creatures unlike anything Pearl had seen-

Wait a minute, no, she _did_ recognize the creatures!

And so did Rose.

“Wait a minute, these are **HUMANS!** Oh my stars and they are in their natural home too! Look at them! This looks so much more packed than the other village I saw thousands of years ago. Oh my gosh, Garnet, Pearl, you never saw that one! Come on, we have to go see!”

Rose ran forward and Garnet followed her. Pearl tried to reach out, screaming, “ **ROSE WAIT!** ”

But no response. 

Pearl groaned and put her heads in her hands.

“Stubborn friends that do a bunch of nonsensical things and leave you to clean up the mess? That’s the worst right?”

Pearl scoffed. “Tell me about it.”

Then her eyes immediately went wide. She whipped her head around, sword in hand, and faced the person who just spoke. 

It was a human man. He had brown hair and a brown beard and some kind of light armor made of some kind of light material? It was hard to say. He was resting his arm on a sword very different from hers with a very bemused expression. “I’ve been standing behind you for about five minutes. I just went out hunting and here you are. I wasn’t expecting to encounter a valkyrie anytime soon.”

Before Pearl could ask about what that meant, he pointed the sword at her. “So, who are you and what are you doing in my home?”

Pearl sighed. “We…are just trying to find a home.”

The man smiled softly. “Well, that’s fine by me. Usually my father would try to make these kind of choices but…” He faltered slightly. “Well…how do I know I can trust you?”

Pearl froze slightly, but then the man smirked. “How about this? You tell me your name, and then I tell you mine. Sound good?”

She hesitated for a second, but then she smiled, outstretching her hand. “Pearl. My name is Pearl.”

The man took it with a grin. “Nice name. My name is-”

Before he could say anything else, Rose came running up to them. “Pearl! Random stranger, you have to meet the locals, they are so kind!”

Rose quickly ran away and the man sighed. “Oh boy.”

It took a bit but they soon reunited with the rest of the village. Pearl had a wide look in her eyes as she looked around in awe. There were more than just tents, there were forges for building tools, there were barracks and weapons, cooking areas, campfires, there was so much to see and to do. The man noticed her awe and smiled. “Welcome to Midgard! My humble abode. Just…beware, you’re about to be ambushed in a second.”

“Ambushed?”

Before she could get an answer, she was soon ambushed by a bunch of small humans. They all instantly bombarded her with questions.

“Are you magic?”

“Are you a valkyrie?”

“Are you like that giant woman?”

“Are you a god?”

“Who are you?”

“Uhhhhh.”

The man snickered until he himself was ambushed by a elderly woman. “Baldur! Who are these people?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Mom, they are just some outsiders who need a place to stay. They seem nice enough but-”

“‘Seem’? They are delightful! I’ve never met anyone like them! Do you think they are the valkyrie?”

The man named Baldur stared out into the distance and looked almost troubled. “I am not sure. But they are coming here, so let me talk to them.”

Rose, Garnet, and Pearl slowly approached the woman and her son with large smiles. Rose was the first to speak, saying, “Thank you so much for your kindness. I am sorry to barge in unannounced but-”

Garnet leaned into Pearl’s ear with a questioning glance. “What is she doing?”

Pearl smiled. “Well, based on her research of Earth, it is appropriate to have manners in all matters of life. Especially if you are in someone else’s home.”

Garnet grinned. “Whoaaaaaa.”

Rose was still continuing her rant. “-So if you don’t mind…could we stay here?”

The woman smiled and stepped out, holding Rose’s hand tightly. “Fraujaz, you do not need to be so formal. We are happy to welcome you into our home. And please, just call me Frigg. And if you are on the run, my son can gladly help!”

Baldur groaned. “Oh no.”

The woman shoved her son forward. “Come on! Introduce yourself!”

He sighed and took a bow. “My name is Baldur Odinson. A humble soldier…the only one left in this village actually. Everyone else has gone out on journeys across the world, fighting wars and helping keep balance to the places under our wing. This village is their home, but, well, they haven’t been home in a while.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “Odinson? What does that mean?”

Isaac responded with a deadpan expression. “It means I have a father named Odin and I am his son.”

His mother slapped his back and he recoiled. “Ow! Mom!” He groaned. “My father is a warrior. A great warrior in fact. One of the greatest in all of the land. It is a part of our custom to be named after our fathers.”

Baldur looked up and saw Rose had literal stars in her eyes. “That’s so cool! Just one question, what’s a father?”

He snorted and finally lifted himself off of the ground. “…Right, you really are an outsider. Let me show you to where you’ll be staying and then I can explain some of our customs to you…and you can explain some things to me.”

* * *

“And that’s our story.”

Baldur held his head in his hands, desperately trying to make sense of the information he’d just been hit with. “That’s…a lot. So, you are…gems, from a far off planet. This planet is supposed to be colonized by this group known as the Diamonds and their Homeworld gems, specifically Pink Diamond, so you guys defected in order to stop them, but because there’s only three of you, it isn’t enough to fight an entire civilization.”

Rose smiled softly. “For your first exposure to life outside of this planet, that’s pretty impressive comprehension.”

Baldur sighed. “Okay, so you guys have a plan right?”

Pearl immediately jumped up. “Ah! Yes, of course.”

She stood up and displayed a simulation from the gem on her forehead. Baldur immediately recoiled in shock. “Hva i helvete?! What is that?!”

Pearl looked confused for a moment, then she smiled. “Oh this! It’s a hologram! We can use it to display images in order to convey a certain meaning! In this case, I am using it to show the schematics-” At Baldur’s blank look, she changed her phrasing. “-the plans of the facility we need to infiltrate!”

“Whoa. That’s…pretty cool.”

Garnet leaned over to him with a smile. “I know right?”

The four of them were in a forest just on the outskirts of the village. Baldur had shown them around but immediately realized that if they wanted to make a plan, it was better to go into the forest. He claimed it was “good for thinking and meditating.” The gems weren’t sure what meditating was, but it sounded neat.

Pearl displayed an image of a mountainous area. There were caverns all around it and some kind of quarry right in the center of the mountain. But there were these unnatural structures unlike anything Baldur had seen in his entire life. They looked like magic, like something out of the intricate stories that his mother would craft. But yet, Pearl just pointed at it like it was normal. 

“This is the Gamma Kindergarten. It was intended to be placed here, in the heart of your land, so that the naturally rich resources of this area could enrich the gems who would be born here. This place is a beautiful merriment of fire and ice, and the gems born here would be able to combine the two elements in battle.”

Baldur didn’t look shocked or stunned, he just looked questioning. “How many kindergartens are there?”

Rose stepped in now with a somber look. “Four and counting. We tried to take the Beta Kindergarten but it is heavily guarded. And the Prime Kindergarten is a whole different story entirely.”

Baldur sighed. “Okay then, what’s the plan? We are taking this facility, we have these…schematics of it, now what?”

Garnet grinned. “We take the facility by force. We use our knowledge to completely cripple their operations and then we take them down!”

Rose nodded enthusiastically while Pearl looked…sheepish. And Baldur looked confused. “Wait, that’s the plan? That’s not…a very good plan. We can’t just take a heavily guarded facility by force!”

Rose looked confused for a moment. “…Why not?”

Baldur stood up and walked over to Pearl. “Do you mind if I see these plans of yours?”

Pearl nodded, and Baldur pointed towards the plans. “If there is one thing my father taught me is that if we have control of a settlement, we get to put the invaders on our terms. Set traps, set guards, set every obstacle possible so that they never want to make it through in the first place, and if they do, they will be taken out within seconds.”

Baldur could vaguely hear Garnet talking to herself, chastising someone named Ruby, but he just continued. 

“But if we are the invaders, we have to operate off of the idea that those in charge of this settlement are thinking the same thing as us. So we infiltrate them first.” Baldur pointed at the top of the mountains. “We take them from the top of these mountains. Used ranged weapons while…Rose and Garnet cause a ruckus. Pearl helps to be one of the main forces, taking down the gems left and right, and then we take the facility.”

Baldur suddenly looked sheepish. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry, I should’ve known to let you guys…speak.”

He stared back to the other gems and saw that the other three had stars in their eyes yet again(how did they even make that expression?)

Pearl looked absolutely shocked. “How…did you do that?”

He rubbed the back of his head. “…My father taught me that. He taught me how to fight from a young age. But he was always nice. Caring. He tried his best not to be too overbearing or awful. He taught me how strategy worked. We always played games together to demonstrate. I got pretty good at it too. He always told me I was a better strategist than him but…well, to be honest, I still don’t believe it. But I’m doing my best.”

Baldur was immediately attack hugged by Rose and lifted up into the air. “Oh my gosh you are sooooooo cool!”

He started laughing. “Hah! Okay okay, you can put me down now! I appreciate the gesture but…how can you lift me like this?!”

Rose quickly dropped Baldur and he just fell to the ground. He snorted and laughed a bit more, to which both Rose and Garnet joined in with. Even Pearl was smiling as she lifted him off of the ground. 

As everyone began to calm down, Pearl looked at Baldur with concerned eyes. “So what do we do now?”

Baldur’s eyes immediately went wide. “Wait wait wait, I can’t be your leader! You guys are from a whole world I do not understand! How could I lead you guys?! Rose is the natural leader here!”

Garnet immediately stepped forward. “You may not have to lead us. You just have to help us strategize.”

Then Pearl spoke. “We are all very new to this. We aren’t even really fighters in the first place!”

Then Rose spoke with a small smile. “This is how revolutions start. With a team all working together for one cause. With you on our side, I know you can help us save your world.”

Now Baldur just looked scared. “But I’m…just a human. How could I make a difference?”

Rose knelt down and held onto Baldur’s arms tightly. “I have seen gems defy expectations so much in just the past few thousand years. People are capable of so much more than what we think. And I have no doubt that you can do the same. I have no doubt that you will save your world, Baldur Odinson.”

  
Baldur for a moment felt terrified and crushed by all of the pressure. He already had enough pressure being the sole protector of Midgard. Now this? Could he do it?

But these gems…they believed in him. They trusted him. It was a lot of responsibility but…he could bear it. And besides-

-It wasn’t like he was alone.

So he grinned. “Okay. In that case…let’s start with some combat drills!”

Rose and Garnet cheered while Pearl crossed her arms with a small smile. All of them ready and hoping for a better tomorrow now that they had a new member to their revolution. 

* * *

Peridot was incredulous as she took a sip of soda. “Wait, so did Baldur train you Pearl?”

She smiled softly as she stared at the now calmed down(and a bit more relaxed) Crystal Gems. They were all eating miscellaneous snacks and staring at Pearl as she told their story. At points Garnet would step in, but it was mostly Pearl. 

“Yes and no. Rose and I had knowledge of fighting. We were, after all, able to take on some guard gems and rubies right in front of Blue Diamond herself!”

She had a fond smile in her eyes. “But Baldur was learning to fight almost since the day he was born. He was one of the best fighters I had ever met, and he was only twenty! I never understood it, but he was surely a sight to see!”

Steven nodded sadly. “Makes sense. He completely destroyed Connie and I, along with Rhodochrosite and 700 gems.”

Garnet scoffed. “That’s partly because he had five thousand years to perfect his craft. At one point he was fueled by virtue and protecting other. But since…well, since a certain incident he was fueled by something else entirely.”

Spinel immediately caught on. “Violence. He was fueled by violence and anger.”

Steven held his head in his hands. “Great, so we’re dealing with an ace fighter, an original crystal gem, an immortal, and someone whose the exact opposite of me. Is there anything else to the story?”

Pearl nodded. “Yes. We were running some combat drills and Garnet was slowly learning how to fight, while Rose and I were perfecting our technique. But Baldur’s views on strategy were unparalleled. So…

I sort of got help from him.”

Immediately Lars looked baffled. “Wait, wait a second.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “Is it so hard to believe I asked for help from a human?”

Lars narrowed his eyes along with everyone in the room. “Okay, well first of all, yes. Second of all, Garnet mentioned that Rose found love on Earth. And according to what Steven told me about your trip to Empire City-”

Pearl gasped. “You told them Steven?”

“Don’t even start with that.”

Lars chuckled slightly. “-According to what I was told, there were other men in Rose’s life before Greg.

Was Baldur one of them?”

Pearl folded her hands in her lap with a small smile. “…It was a bit more complicated than that.”

* * *

“Pearl, what’s wrong? You said you wanted to speak with me?”

Baldur was leaning his back on a tree for support. Rose and Garnet were on a scouting mission, trying to figure out what was ahead of their current position. The four of them had been on the road for a few days, taking the long way to the Gamma Kindergarten. It was a long and arduous journey, but thankfully, gems couldn’t feel exhaustion, and Baldur had done this kind of thing before. 

Pearl had a nervous look in her eyes. “So…you’re a better fighter than me.”

Baldur’s eyes immediately went wide and he started to walk away. “Nope.”

She exclaimed. “You haven’t even heard what I’m going to say!”

“It’s started with compliments that just aren’t true, so I don’t trust it.” Baldur picked up one of his swords with a sigh, turning back to face Pearl. “Pearl, you’re a fantastic fighter! I’ve seen you in combat, in our drills. Your attack patterns are clean and precise, you can’t get much better!”

“One can always improve their skills! Didn’t you say that yourself?”

Baldur scoffed. “…Alright, what is it you need?”

Pearl finally smiled. “So, I was hoping you could train me to fight. To be truly strong and capable of taking on armies.”

“…You already are though.”

Pearl groaned. “But I want to know your way! Your fighting style is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and I want to learn! The way you handle strategy, weapons. Even the way you handle enemy territory is unparalleled!”

Baldur sighed. “But I’m not a teacher. I’m not even much of a leader.”

Pearl immediately glared at him. “Are you kidding? I saw your combat drills. The way you’ve trained us and made sure we are ready for war is incredible! You already are capable of teaching!”

Baldur thought about it a bit. It wasn’t exactly a bad idea, and it would allow him to get to know Pearl more. Out of the three gems, Pearl seemed the most…interesting. It was hard to describe. 

But then he realized something and grinned. “…Why do you want me to teach you?”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “To learn new techniques and be more prepared for fighting?”

“No, no.” Baldur looked incredibly amused.

“What’s the other reason?”

Pearl’s eyes immediately went wide. Then she blushed and sighed.

“…To impress Rose.”

Baldur snorted and started laughing. “There it is! Oh man, thank you for finally admitting it.”

She groaned. “How did you know I-?”

Baldur kept laughing. “Are you kidding?! It was so obvious! Ah man, this is great.”

Then Pearl looked confused. “You aren’t upset?”

At that, Baldur stopped laughing and wiped a tear from his eyes, looking just as confused. “Ha ha…why would I be?”

Pearl thought about it for a moment. Most humans who had encountered Rose had fallen in love with her, and Rose being Rose, indulged them. But Baldur wasn’t like them. He was remarkably…calm around Rose. He trusted her, sure. But he didn’t harbor any major feelings. 

And honestly?

It was an absolute relief to Pearl. 

She smiled. “No reason. So will you help?”

Baldur smiled. “Of course. Hang on, just let me grab my weapon. You grab yours and we’ll get to work.”

Pearl thought for a second, then grinned. “Actually…” She took a sword out of her gem and threw it to Baldur. He caught it and admired it. It was some kind of twin bladed sword. 

He smiled. “This is a fine blade! Where did you…find it?”

“I uh…” Pearl smiled sheepishly. “I stole it. From a gem settlement.”

And Baldur grinned. “I don’t doubt that. Well…I guess it’s time we get to work.”

* * *

Steven spit took as soon as the story was over. Everyone immediately looked at him with a mixture of confusion, amusement, and concern. 

Connie immediately spoke first. “Steven, what happened?”

Steven started laughing. “I’m sorry, it’s just really funny that not only did Pearl, Pearl of all people liked a human, not only did Baldur not have any romantic interest in Rose which is a hell of a relief, but he was basically Pearl’s wingman!”

Everyone paused for a second.

And then everyone slowly started chuckling. Not necessarily at the no romantic interest part, though some were laughing at that as well, but mostly because the thought of someone being Pearl’s wingman seemed incomprehensible. 

Even Pearl realized it, which was why she was laughing as well. Even Garnet, Amethyst, and Bismuth were laughing. The air seemed to be slowly clearing. Steven tried figuring out why. Was it because of who they were talking about? The nature of the situation should’ve brought them dread and yet…

As Steven and the others are finding more about Baldur, Isaac, whatever, he seems less like a phantom. 

And more like a long lost family member. 

Of course he was doing wrong, and he must be stopped. 

But Steven couldn’t help but smile as he could vaguely hear the sounds of a man laughing genuinely far away.

Eventually everyone calmed down, and Pearl just smiled softly. “Yes, well, there was something odd about Baldur. He just seemed more at ease than anyone I’d ever met before. He was different, and very strange. But he was a soldier. A fighter through and through. We learned a lot from him.”

Then her smile wavered lightly. “But now that I think about it, it seems clear that while he thought well of Rose…perhaps he never fully trusted her. He always seemed to hold some things close to the chest.”

Amethyst growled slightly, finally reaching her peak frustration. “Why are we talking about all this pointless nonsense?! What we need to know is why Baldur turned so we can stop him!”

Volleyball looked up with a somber look. “I am starting to realize that it is more complicated than that.”

Pearl nodded. “In order to understand why Baldur…Isaac is doing what he is doing, you have to understand the type of person he was. He always believed the best in people and even while he never fully trusted Rose, he wanted to believe in her regardless. 

Every day he greeted with a smile. He was happy. And well…

He helped me a lot.”

* * *

“Okay so you already know the basics of combat. Basic positions, basic maneuvers, everything. I’ve done some recon of some gem soldiers and well, I’ve seen both you and Rose, and you guys do fantastic in combat. However, there are some gaps in your combat.”

Baldur paced back and forth while Pearl watched with fascination. “First, there is the stance. It could definitely use some performance and optimization in order to be able to maneuver with more care and less recklessness. Then there are the weapons. Dual swords in theory is smart, but if one decided to attack with a long sword or some form of ranged combat, you’d be open to attack. You did recon on the Gamma Kindergarten, yes?”

Pearl nodded and Baldur responded, “What did you see?”

Pearl thought for a second, then she simulated a hologram from her gem, portraying a moderately clear picture of the battlefield. “I saw some interrogation gems, Jaspers and Amethysts that primarily focus on close combat. There were some Jades with weapons primarily designed for range, some Citrines that can pack a punch, and some Hessonites.”

“Good, what else?”

Pearl kept thinking.”There’s a Hackmanite with a long sword, a Moonstone with assassin capabilities, a Diopside with detonation abilities, and an Ammolite with mild chronokinesis.”

Baldur smiled. “Good. And what about the land, anything specific?”

Pearl nodded. “There were mountains, which is very good and optimal for ranged combat. Waterfalls, good for sneaking in. Snow, good for obstructing view.” Pearl grinned. “If we play our cards right, we can take the Gamma Kindergarten down with ease.”

Baldur smiled. “Agreed. That’s the thing to learn about Mid…our planet. Our nature is unpredictable and wildly uncontrollable. The key is taking advantage of it and using it to detriment our rivals. That is how we win: using the planet they mean to destroy and colonize against them. Fighting dirty, taking their rules of combat and throwing it out the window. Use their confidence and cockiness and rip it to shreds.”

Pearl smiled fondly. “You’ve sure settled into the position of being a Crystal Gem.”

Baldur snorted. “How did you even come up with that name?”

“It’s…” Pearl had some form of shyness in her tone, “a long story. Rose came up with it.”

“Somehow that does not surprise me.” Baldur smirked and took out his sword. “Now come on, let’s do some combat drills.”

Pearl took out her dual swords and pointed it at Baldur as he got into his combat position. Baldur grinned. “La dette være en perfekt kamp.”

Pearl’s eyes went wide slightly. “What does that mean?”

Baldur grinned. “‘Let this be a perfect battle’. It’s a sign that you respect your opponent no matter what your battle may bring.”

Pearl smiled softly and then spoke with pride, “Let this be a perfect battle, Baldur.”

The two charged at each other, and before Pearl could deal the initial blow, Baldur dodged out of the way, swiping at one of Pearl’s swords. She parried and tried to thrust at Baldur, which he dodged by just moving out of the way. He grinned slightly. “Putting a lot of power in the thrust has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is if you manage to deal the blow, it could wipe the gem out cleanly. But, well…”

Pearl tried for another swipe, which Baldur countered and held her in place with his sword. “Your movement is impaired. Movement is the difference between life and death-”

Pearl kicked at Baldur’s legs, causing him to fall to the ground. Before he could get back up, she pointed her sword at him. She smirked. “You said I needed to fight dirtier in order to throw off my opponent.”

Baldur chuckled and grinned. “I did. Well played using the weight as bait.” A mischievous look entered his eyes as Pearl noticed a strap wrapped around Baldur’s arm. He started swinging it and threw it around a rock. The rope wrapped around it and he pulled it and slammed it into Pearl’s head. 

She staggered back as Baldur jumped up from the ground. “But always expect the unexpected. Humans are crafty, so you must expect gems to act the same.”

Pearl stood shocked, and then grinned. “Got it. Now…ready for round 2?”

And Baldur smirked.

* * *

It had been about two weeks since that day, and Pearl and Baldur had both become far better fighters. They were almost right outside the Gamma Kindergarten, and so to prepare, they were doing one last training run.

Baldur held the twin bladed sword and countered another swift blow from Pearl. He smirked. “You’re getting better.”

Pearl mimicked his expression. “So are you. Gem techniques are very advanced, the fact that you’ve learned them so well-”

Baldur kicked Pearl off of him and she staggered. He went to deal a flurry of strikes which Pearl managed to parry. He took a step back and before Pearl could charge again, Baldur swung his rope around her sword. But he never got the chance to pull it out of her hand, because Pearl maneuvered and cut the rope and then knocked Baldur’s sword out of his hands. 

Pearl had a cocky grin on her face as she pointed the tip of the sword right at Baldur’s face. “Do you yield?”

Baldur knelt down and put his hands up. Pearl was about to put her sword away until he grabbed a handful of dirt

And threw it right into Pearl’s eyes. “Never!”

He ran to grab his long sword which was lying on the ground before Pearl could recover. Once she did, Baldur was already carrying the long sword. 

She groaned. “Why won’t you just give up?!”

“Because I am a crystal gem. And we _never_ give up.”

Pearl stood shocked as he charged at her and delivered a strong strike with his long sword. She just barely parried it, but it was useless as the two swords were knocked out of her hands. Baldur was about to point the sword at Pearl, but she took heart of his words and charged him at full speed. 

“I helvete?!”

Pearl dodged another sweep from his sword, and punched him right in the face. She delivered another set of punches to Baldur’s abdomen, knocking him backwards. While he was discombobulated, Pearl went to grab her sword from the ground. 

Baldur recovered and charged at her with her sword raised. Pearl did the same, and soon, their swords collided and clashed as sparks flew. The fight could’ve gone on forever but-

“Oh my gosh! You guys are so awesome!”

Baldur and Pearl were knocked out of their reverie by Garnet and Rose’s shocked and stunned faces. Their eyes had stars in them. They were supposed to be watching the perimeter but…

Well, I guess the sounds of the fight were loud.

The duo left exited out of their combat stances and smiled as Rose approached Pearl. “You’ve gotten so much better in combat! It’s so cool! How did you-?”

Baldur stepped in before Pearl could say anything. “It was all her. She’s a fantastic fighter. One of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Pearl looked at Baldur with wide eyes and he responded with a wink. She blushed profusely as Rose lifted her up in the air and spun her around. “Ahhhhhh! We can take on Homeworld together with ease! You’re the best, Pearl.”

As Pearl began to vaguely resemble a tomato, Garnet walked up to Baldur with a small smile. “Your combat drills have been invaluable. I told you you’d be a great member of our team.”

He smiled sheepishly. “I guess so. Once we establish one of your warp pads…I can go home to see my family. And then I can keep fighting with you guys.”

Rose and Pearl looked at Baldur with wide eyes. The latter spoke first. “You’re…going to keep fighting?”

He scoffed. “Of course! It’s not like I am doing much else. I need some sort of purpose and this is perfect. My planet is in danger, and I can help. Besides…you guys seem like good people. I trust you.”

The others smiled with glee, and Rose stood up declaring in a bombastic voice, “Behold! A new member of the Crystal Gems! Baldur Odinson! With him we shall free the world from the clutches of the Diamonds.”

Baldur snorted. “You know, this kind of declaration doesn’t really work well without a drink.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “Drink?”

Baldur’s eyes went wide, and he grinned. “Oh man.” He went to a little bag he had been carrying with him and pulled out some sort of glass container with a green liquid in it. 

“You guys have seen nothing yet.”

* * *

Connie was stunned. “Did…Baldur introduce you guys to beer?”

Garnet held her head in pain. “There was so much alcohol.”

Lars snorted. “I thought you guys couldn’t do drinks?”

Pearl sighed. “Well, we don’t need to drink it but as Amethyst has shown us, we can still feel some of the effects of it. Plus it was our first exposure to human drinks and it was uh…”

Steven shuddered, remembering his first experience with alcohol. “Insane?”

“Yeah…let’s go with that.”

Garnet shook her head. “Let’s just say that we were a bit out of control when drunk.”

Peridot scowled at Amethyst. “That would’ve been good to know after you got me **WASTED!** ”

Amethyst held her hands up. “Whoa whoa! You deserved some time off after your work on Little Homeschool!”

“But I made a complete fool of myself in front of Lapis!”

Lapis smiled mockingly. “Don’t worry. You were incredibly cute~”

Peridot started making incomprehensible sounds before Spinel stepped in. “Okay okay okay. Back up a second. You told us that Baldur said he trusted you.”

“Please tell me for the love of all of the cosmos…that you broke that trust.”

Pearl and Garnet lowered their heads and Connie immediately had a dark look in her eyes. “Of course. Of fucking course.”

Pearl gasped. “Connie!”

Connie immediately stood up with a scowl. “No, don’t even start. How is it possible that Rose and you made so many mistakes that now we…now Steven has to pay for it. That’s not fair to him!”

Pearl exclaimed. “This wasn’t our fault!”

Before Connie could retort, Steven stopped her. “Look, we won’t know why Baldur is doing what he is doing is to find out what happened. Fine, the trust was broken. We just need to know why and how. So…what happened next?”

Pearl felt a grave and dark shame but tried to muster a smile. 

“We executed the plan perfectly. Baldur and I were able to come up with something amazing and well…”

“We got the best case scenario.”

* * *

They came at night, from the mountains, and immediately got to work. The weather was exactly as they had hoped: very snowy and slightly foggy. Baldur took a position at the top of the mountains while the other gems dwelled in the darkness. They did well from what Baldur taught them, blending in and…poofing gems(such an odd phrase), with ease. As they performed the operation, Baldur got to work on his side of the plan. 

The gems told him about certain Homeworld materials. The way they build their structures and some of their natural resources. Baldur didn’t understand it. He didn’t understand any of it. He started to feel too small in the broad scheme of things. Often times it was too much to handle. Sure, he could train the gems just fine but…he wasn’t enough was he?

No, no. Even if he wasn’t a gem, he still knew what he was good at. Being a soldier. He could do that. 

He had crafted a bow and arrow together from some sticks and strings and pulled out an arrow. He immediately spotted the main flammable resource, a container carrying some sort of blue material, and lit the arrow on fire. Baldur pulled the arrow onto the string and pulled it back. 

Baldur thought about the mythologies he had crafted in his head as a kid. Stories of gods and monsters. His mother always appreciated it, and so did his father. He held onto his friends. He held onto everything he had and used it to release the arrow and strike it right into the resource, blowing it up. 

The effect was immediate. Rose, Garnet, and Pearl got right to work, as the Homeworld gems started to panic. Those born right from the Kindergarten looked around in awe as the three gems stood on top of a small gem vehicle stationed on the ground, and declared, “ **WE ARE THE CRYSTAL GEMS! AND WE ARE HERE TO FREE YOU ALL FROM THE TYRANNY OF THE DIAMONDS!** ”

Baldur chuckled and spoke to himself as a he wound another arrow back. “Subtlety much?“

He kept providing back up, making sure that the gems wouldn’t be hit by any unsuspecting gem that decided to ambush them. And there were so many gems. It was just like Pearl said. Hackmonites, Jades, Hessonites, Ammolites, Diopsides, and many more. But they were nothing compared to the talent to the Crystal Gems. 

One Diopside tried to sneakily detonate all three crystal gems, but Baldur immediately shut them down, shooting the arrow and blowing up the gems bomb and sending the gemstone sky high. Pearl looked up at Baldur’s position and gave a salute, which Baldur sent back with a grin. 

“Well, everything is going just fine!” Baldur was smirking. “Let’s see what other gems I can take-”

He saw it.

For a fraction of a second, he saw a gem blink in and out of existence right behind the other Crystal Gems. She had them dead to rights too but then he saw her blink away again far from the gems. Baldur could almost see her expression of…fear? He wasn’t sure. 

He went to pull the arrow back to at least try to take her down…but he couldn’t. He hesitated, just like that gem was. 

Baldur didn’t know why but…something seemed different about that gem. 

He wasn’t able to dwell on it for any longer as he felt someone slam the blunt edge of a sword into him. It sent him tumbling into the dirt and almost sent him off of the edge of the mountain. 

Baldur looked up and saw a slim yet tall white Hackmonite who just chuckled. “Not only do I see these pathetic Crystal Pretenders, but a terran with them? How…amusing.”

Baldur felt at his abdomen and saw that he was bleeding slightly. He groaned slightly as the Hackmonite got closer. “What did they tell you?” She sneered, “That you _mattered_? That you _meant_ something in the grand scheme of things? Hah! You mean _nothing_. You are just a pathetic disgusting little… _creature_. Just like the rest of those ‘Off-Colors’.”

Baldur realized that he was surrounded by two Citrines and two Amethysts, all four of them white with eerie smiles. He scoffed. “So you must be one of White Diamond’s. I’ve learned a lot about their oligarchy in the past few weeks but man…she seems like the worst.”

Hackmonite growled and delivered a kick to Baldur’s chest, knocking him back further. “You **DARE** speak of the luminous White Diamond like that?! Pathetic worm!”

As her bodyguards looked at her, she cleared her throat with an eerie smile. “Look around you terran. See just what horrors your precious crystal gems are about to face.”

Baldur looked around and saw an Ammolite positioned at the top of a structure. She was surrounded by Jades who were raining down some intense fire on all of the rebelling gems. Sure, the main Crystal Gems weren’t fighting alone anymore, most of the Kindergarten were rebelling but…they would be no match for that station. 

“Your friends will be shattered. You will die. Your world will be torn asunder. And Pink Diamond will have her beloved little colony. And afterwards, we’ll do it all again with the next planet. And the next. And soon, the entire universe will be perfect under the Diamond’s rein. 

And you will have died for nothing.”

Baldur felt it then. The intense anger. The rage within him. Sure, he held onto his family, to the people he loved. But the anger…

That drove him to do what happened next.

It happened in an instant. He had picked up the dual bladed sword at his side and jumped up from the ground. Time slowed down as he poofed the first Amethyst without her even lifting her fists. The citrine had enough time to see the attack coming as she poofed next. He threw the sword at the second Citrine and grabbed his long sword from the ground, slamming it into the last Amethyst, poofing them both. The Hackmonite absolutely had time to process the attack, and was swinging her sword right at Baldur. 

But she never got to land a single hit. Baldur picked up the bow and arrow and kept firing arrow after arrow into the Hackmonite’s chest. It was unceremonious, it was just swift and painless. 

The Hackmonite staggered to the ground, gasping as her gem was slightly cracked. But she grinned. “Very impressive! I imagine White Diamond would have a particular interest in you. I guess…I’ll be seeing you around _Terran_.”

She poofed just like that. But Baldur couldn’t even take a moment to breathe. He picked up his sword from what remained of the Amethyst, picked up the Hackmonite’s gem, wrapped the bow around his shoulder, and stood perched on the tip of the Mountain. The snow was really started to come down now. At first, it was an advantage to his gems, but now it was an advantage to the Homeworld gems. The Ammolite was using its chronokinesis to freeze time and aim precise shots at the gems. Some were getting shattered on site.

He couldn’t let it happen. 

Baldur stepped back and prepared himself to run. He took a deep breath in and out. And he could feel absolute focus reach him. 

He could feel time and energy stretch out in front of him. He could feel the strength, he could feel his courage. But also his anger as well. 

He would not his let his friends, he would not let this centuries old war, this cycle of pain and destruction fueled by these so-called Diamonds end like this.

The cycle must end. They must be better than this.

Baldur ran and leaped off of the mountain and onto the platform. Time seemed to slow down again as he swiped his sword into the Jades, poofing them, and pointed it at the Ammolite. 

“Whose in charge here?!”

The Ammolite grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Baldur sighed and just poofed her right there. He looked and saw the main Crystal Gems advancing with some of the kindergarten gems. The enemy’s troops were slowly dwindling. 

He shouted out, “ **PEARL! WHOSE IN CHARGE HERE?!** ”

Baldur could almost make out Pearl moving around to see where the voice came from in the giant Blizzard, but then she just shouted back. “ **A HACKMONITE! BUT THERE’S A STATION THAT WE MUST DESTROY! IT IS KEY TO WINNING THE BATTLE BUT IT IS HARD TO SEE!** ”

It clicked at that moment. 

Station to destroy?

He grinned and pulled out the Hackmonite’s gem. “Well, looks like your plan is about to fall apart. Big shame for you right? So much for round two.”

He threw the gem into the blizzard, taking it who knows where, and looked around and saw another one of the blue minerals at the base of the tower. Baldur tried to aim for the resource…but he couldn’t.

It occurred to him that the blast would probably kill him.

And he…didn’t really want to die.

Was his story supposed to end before it began? 

Was he supposed to die in a sacrifice like this?

Before he could dwell on that any further, three voices called out to him.

“ **BALDUR**!”

“ **WE CAN HELP!** ”

“ **YOU AREN’T ALONE ANYMORE!** ”

At that moment he realized. If he detonated this tower…he could and would live.

Because he wasn’t alone anymore. 

So he grinned and pulled back the arrow and shouted out, “ **WHEN I END THIS…**

**_CATCH ME._ ”**

And he let the arrow fly.

* * *

Isaac was chuckling to himself, thinking about the story Pearl was telling. She always was a great storyteller. 

He was standing outside the gargantuan ship he lived in, running repairs. In Beach City it was the afternoon, but here it was just about morning. He inhaled, feeling the beautiful breeze as the trees spoke in their hushed tones, and the leaves brushed against his back. 

Serenity.

Could you imagine?

But that peaceful moment of serenity was interrupted by the arrival of a couple of humans behind him.

Isaac groaned. “Again with you guys?”

The man leading them smirked. “You have already started your charge against the gems. Now you just need to help us wipe out the rest of them.”

“What you are suggesting is genocide of an entire race. I won’t let you kill every single gem.”

“And why not?” The man narrowed his eyes. “They have done nothing but caused us trouble.”

Isaac scoffed. “Yeah, nice excuse. If you truly believed that, then you wouldn’t be looking at Earth.”

“And what exactly are you doing?”

“I am going after the gems that have caused us and the gems pain for thousands of years. I am fighting for both humanity and gems. I won’t be a part of your so called crusade.”

“Well…then if you aren’t with us…you’re against us.”

The men behind them pulled their guns out and aimed it right at Isaac. He grinned and turned to face them. “I’ve always been against you. Now…”

He pulled out the sword Hofund from his back and pointed it at the humans with a smirk. “Let me show you what I can really do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Told ya it was a long chapter!  
> Hey everyone! Sorry I couldn't release this chapter earlier in the day, I'm back to school and miserable. And tired, mostly tired. So I just barely got this out. But I think it worked out!  
> There are so many little touches in this that I won't go into detail on, but it was important to have a chapter all about Baldur and his story. We don't get into how he broke off from the gems, how he got his brand, and how he lost everything yet. But the seeds are planted for sure.  
> ...Also after I wrote the chapter I found out that apparently, there truly are just two kindergartens on Earth, and Gamma belongs to White(which works out actually). But Gamma being on Earth...consider that a minor retcon. Sorry if that bothers you.  
> I also did my best to incorporate actually norwegian as best as I could from Babylon translator, which I heard was good. If it's a bit off, I'm deeply sorry.  
> Next chapter should be Wednesday, where we start to cover more of Isaac's reaction to all this.


	9. The Sons of Pink Diamond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We gave…everything to her. Hell, we gave everything to every Diamond out there. Forced to obey our masters and give them everything we have. Our trust, our love…our life? I think you all have a story about how a diamond has ruined your life in someway.”

“Once Baldur had blown the station, Rose caught him. He wasn’t hurt too much, just unconscious for a bit. But we won the battle. It was the first in a long line of victories for the revolution, and it is where more people started to join our cause.”

As Pearl was finishing the story, Garnet spoke with a small smile. “From there, more conflicts would be fought in the Sky Arena, where Baldur truly showed his strength and his courage. We were all key members of the crystal gems, and our victories would inspire others to heed our call of rebellion.”

Bismuth chuckled, feeling a bit more at ease. “Including this old builder. Hearing the tales of a rebellion who truly believed that gems are capable of being anything they wanted to be…well, it was enough to make me drop all my tools and start something new.”

Everyone listening to this story smiled softly, even Steven. There was a bit more context now to the type of person Baldur was…

And yet, not to the type of person he became. 

Connie immediately caught on, and asked a question that had lingered in her mind for a while. “What happened to the Hackmonite? Baldur threw him into the snow but…was she ever found?”

Pearl’s look instantly became somber. “Well…”

But she was interrupted by _something_. The entire temple seemed to come alive, as all of the electronic machinery sparked and crackled. The tv turned on and immediately went to static, the microwave started beeping uncontrollably. The air of the entire room felt wrong as the corners on the foundations began to glow. 

Amethyst had an uneasy smile. “Haha…this is new.”

Steven immediately looked terrified. “Pearl, what is this?”

“I…” She looked just as terrified too. “Have no idea.”

Garnet went to defense positions and stood up. “Everyone get back!”

Everyone took a step back, but hesitantly drew what weapons they had(with Lapis it was some cup of water, Peridot a frying pan, and Lars a hammer he’d picked up from the ground.)

But then Steven heard a sound. 

It was like someone trying to talk as the distortion from the electronics seemed to create a sound. 

“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-”

The lights began to glow and fuse together, creating an image right in the middle of the room. No, more than an image, a display. And as the display became clearer, so too did the audio, and the image finally revealed itself.

Baldur Odinson. 

Isaac Sterling.

“Why, Rose healed her of course!”

The projection was entirely blue, but it definitely wasn’t static. He stood with an eerie smile on his face, and his hands positioned behind his back. There was some type of liquid on his chest, but his combat suit was the same as when Steven faced him. 

Pearl’s eyes were wide. “It… _is_ you.”

Isaac smiled softly. “It’s been a while Pearl. It’s been a while since I’ve seen all of you! Connie, always a pleasure. Bismuth…I am so glad you are alive like this. And Garnet!” His smile wavered just slightly. “So good to see you again. And married no less! _Congratulations_.”

Garnet looked nervous. “Why are you doing this Baldur?!”

Peridot exclaimed. “More like _how_ are you doing this?! This technology hasn’t been seen for thousands of yea-”

He raised an eyebrow. “Baldur? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. But if you don’t mind, I prefer to be called Isaac. Baldur brings back a sea of bad memories that I’d rather not tackle right now.”

“And as for your question Peridot, I stole this technology from an old gem shipment thousands of years ago. As I’m fairly certain Pearl told you in her incredible story, I’ve been around for a…while.”

He perked up slightly as Steven stood up and faced him. “But anyways, Rose found the Hackmonite in the snow as the battle ended. She healed her, of course. That’s what Rose Quartz is right? A _healer_? But she didn’t choose to imprison her or _bubble_ her, no, she let her _go_. Believing she was capable of change, she let her go as the Hackmonite promised to never hurt anyone ever again.”

Isaac began to scowl. “But humiliated by her loss in the Gamma Kindergarten, she never intended to keep that promise. So she fled and made contact with her diamond. White Diamond wasn’t angry or disappointed, she was _pleased_! She was fascinated in the story of the Terran on site and of the pathetic attempts of the Crystal Gems to colonize. So White Diamond, looking after her…daughter? I guess? Anyways, looking after her daughter Pink Diamond, she decided to send this Hackmonite back into the field to quietly deal with the Crystal Gems and their forces. And to capture the Terran for Pink’s beloved zoo.”

“The Hackmonite amassed an army and became a dark force in the side of many gems…and eventually lead to one of the greatest losses in gem and human history.”

“That’s what Rose did right? She saved countless lives…yet caused mistakes that costed many more. The corruption, the bubbling of the Roses, so many battles lost all for a _lie_!”

Isaac stepped forward, facing all of the inhabitants of the room with a dark look in his eyes. “We gave…everything to her. Hell, we gave everything to every Diamond out there. Forced to obey our masters and give them everything we have. Our trust, our love…our life? I think you all have a story about how a diamond has ruined your life in someway.” He looked at Steven dead in the eye, and even as a hologram, Steven could see the emotions in his eyes. “Some more than others, right?”

Steven looked at him stunned as Pearl stepped forward and looked at Isaac with desperate eyes. “Ba-Isaac, revenge won’t end that pain. Trust me…I know.”

Isaac smiled, slight pity filling his eyes. “…Yeah, I know you do. But this is about more than revenge. How many times have we been cast aside by the diamonds? By gems who have ruined our whole world, who have taken everything away from us? How long are we going to let it last Pearl? When will the cycle end?!”

Steven exclaimed, “But the war is over! There is no one left to _fight_!”

Isaac scoffed. “Really? What about that settlement that was going to attack you and Little Homeschool? Or the other settlements and outsiders that still hate you and want you gone? Or how about the entire universe of people whose lives have been ruined by Pink Diamond? Oh but she’s gone now, so they look to this planet, and they look to you for revenge. Hell, I just got attacked by this extremist human group that wants all humans gone! I bet you didn’t know about that did you?!”

Everyone gasped slightly, Steven most of all. Maybe he didn’t know as much about the threats to this planet as he thought. 

Isaac sighed. “Look, I don’t want to hurt any of you. I just want to talk. So let’s talk. Meet me in the desert. I’ll see you around.”

The apparition vanished, and with it, the electronics in the house returned to normal. 

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as they all slumped down in their chairs. Lars was the first to speak. “It’s…probably a trap. You guys know that, right?”

Spinel scoffed. “Not like we have a much of a choice right?”

Garnet nodded. “Agreed. We’ll tell the rest of the story once we bring Isaac in. Come on, we’ll take the warp.”

Everyone gathered their weapons and stood on the warp, but Steven couldn’t help but feel something wasn’t right as he stood with them. The warp glowed and he could already feel the heat of the desert…but something was nagging at him. 

It felt too easy.

They arrived at their destination. In the middle of the scorching desert. Where he met Lion, where he encountered the Desert Glass. The site of other battles in the past. 

Lars immediately felt the heat and groaned. “Seriously? How did you guys deal with this place in the past?”

He looked to the other gems and saw that they barely batted an eye and sighed. “Right, gems are heat resistant, cool, cool.”

Connie punched him in the shoulder. “Well, at least you can’t feel anything! Steven and I still have to deal with the heat! Right Steven?”

Connie looked to him with a mocking smile, and Steven mirrored it with a smile of his own.

“Right Connie-”

And then the ground opened up underneath him.

* * *

It was too damned easy. It was so easy that Isaac almost felt bad. 

It was too soon to have the entire Crystal Gems on his back. And for now, he only really needed to talk to Steven. 

So after dealing with the so called “Terran Purists,” he got to work. It didn’t take much to set up his little message, and when he did, he already knew what to do.

“Meet me in the desert,” he said. Easy peasy right?

Isaac knew full well that they would all come. 

So when they arrived at the desert and stepped off the warp, Isaac had hidden himself in a lump of sand.

There aren’t that many good hiding spots in the sand. Between portalling he would have to take a quick ocean bath. 

Isaac acted fast, opening a portal under Steven, sending him to a place on his terms. 

_Home_.

And then he opened up a portal onto the warp pad with a grin, as the gems called out, “ **STEVEN!** ”

He took out his sword and held it above the warp pad. The gems realized what was happening and looked at him with a scowl.

Spinel was the first to shout out. “ **YOU! WHERE DID YOU TAKE HIM?!** ”

Everyone else looked either angry or terrified(Pearl belonging to the latter half.)

But Isaac, oh no, Isaac was smirking. “Sorry about that, I just needed to talk to Steven for a bit. I promise I’ll bring him back in a few hours. Until then…”

He drove his sword into the warp pad, the energy oozing from it into the pad, distorting it, and then soon, destroying it. 

“See you around!”

And he teleported away.

* * *

Ow.

That was the first thought that when through Steven’s head. He was lying face first on the dirt below him, trying to retrace his steps of how he got here.

He went to the desert. 

Check. 

He stepped off of the warp pad. 

Check.

And then the ground opened up beneath him-

A portal. 

_WAIT_.

He pushed himself to his feet and looked around. He saw swords, strawberries, and butterflies. This place was beautiful even after all of these years. But the history of it…

Oh Steven knew just where he was. 

The Gem Battlefield. Steven was on the Gem Battlefield. 

But why here? 

So Isaac wanted to talk, that much was clear, but why here?

Wait a second. 

Wasn’t this place in Norway?

Before he could think anymore, Steven heard someone take a deep sigh and step up to him. He pushed himself off of the ground to face the other person with him, knowing full well who it was. 

Isaac. In all of his pink skinned and armored glory. But now he had a giant sword on his back that seemed to be glowing.

“Hey Steven. Good to meet you at last. But technically, I guess this isn’t our first meeting. Of course there was Stevonnie, when I met you when you were a kid, blah blah blah. But you’re here now.”

Steven raised an eyebrow. “You met me as a kid?”

He shrugged. “Briefly.”

* * *

“Why would you come here buying Donuts on Halloween?”

Isaac sighed. “Donuts. Two donuts, for me and a friend. I don’t really have much candy to give out.”

The woman at the counter of the Big Donut smiled, and gave him a bag of candy, along with the donuts. “Well, you might as well give them out for me. And here are your donuts.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“I don’t want kids to harass the joint.”

He grinned. “I guess that’s fair. See you around!”

He stepped outside of the Big Donut, and sighed. It was a beautiful Halloween night in Beach City. He didn’t like visiting this place too much, but it had some of the best donuts ever. So it was fine. 

Isaac ran into some kids on the way here, along with some grumpy adults, and some happy adults too. Isaac liked Halloween. It was a decent holiday and the celebrations were pretty cool and unique. It was nice.

Sometimes the kids annoyed him, but other than that, it was nice.

Before he could think about things anymore, he was interrupted by a kid barreling into his legs. Both him and the kid stumbled back and the latter fell backwards onto the ground. The kid made a very small noise of, “ouch,” and Isaac immediately felt bad. 

He knelt down and lifted the small child up. “Come on kid, are you hurt?”

The boy stood up and shook his head and Isaac’s eyes instantly went wide. He wore a costume dressing up as some kind of lion, but he could faintly make out a pink glow from his belly. 

Could it be?

The young boy smiled. “Thank you! It’s nice to meet you sir, my name is Steven Universe!”

_It was him._

Isaac smiled widely despite himself. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Isaac. Isaac Sterling. Not as cool as Steven Universe but-”

And the kid had _stars_ in his eyes, holy crap. “Isaac is such a cool name! That’s way cooler than my name!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? Steven Universe is a great name! You sound like a cool superhero.” He spoke in a deep voice before he realized it. “Destined to save the world from a young age, Steven Universe must face the difficulties of childhood, while also aiming to protect the world from _the candy monsters._ ”

Steven started laughing and Isaac couldn’t help but chuckle as well. This kid was the nicest person he had ever met. 

Hard to believe he was Rose’s-

Nope, nope, not thinking about it, he was not going to think about it. 

This kid was more than Rose. Better than her. Not because he was her son but because he was him. 

Isaac just knew that when this kid grew up, he was going to do something special.

So he grinned and handed him the bag of candy. Those star eyes again. “What’s this?!”

“A bag of candy I got from the Big Donut. I saw it was full of some really good stuff!”

Isaac took one packet from the bag out with a smile. “There’s even some of this!”

“ **COOKIE CAT!** ”

At that moment Isaac realized he’d do literally anything for this kid.

“Haha! Yeah! This candy is the good stuff. And then there’s the theme song.”

Turns out that was a mistake. 

The kid started dancing. 

“Oohhhhh!  
He's a frozen treat with an all new taste!  
'cause he came to this planet from outer space!  
A refugee of an interstellar war!  
But now he's at your local grocery store!”

And dammit, Isaac couldn’t stop himself from singing along. Saga had gone crazy about this song when the commercial first came out.

Of course he memorized it.

“Cookie Cat!  
He's a pet for your tummy!  
Cookie Cat!  
He's super duper yummy!  
Cookie Cat!  
He left his family behind!  
Cookie Caaaaat!”

This may have been the most ridiculous thing he’d done all year, but he was smiling genuinely. 

Steven and him just laughed for a bit. Is this why Rose gave it all up? For him?

At that moment, Isaac realized he would’ve almost definitely done the same. 

Then Steven perked up as he heard voices calling to him.

“Steven! Where are you?”

Isaac knew those voices and smiled softly.

It’d been so long since he heard them. He could feel the nostalgia wash over him like a wave. A beautifully peaceful wave. He could stay in that wave forever. 

But he couldn’t. It was not the time. 

Steven looked up with a sad look. “I have to go. I’m sorry.”

Isaac had a small smile in his eyes. “Hey, no worries. I have to go take these donuts to my daughter anyways.”

Steven smiled wide with those damned stars. “You have a daughter! That’s so cool! I just have three moms and a dad!”

Isaac grinned. “You need to stop overselling yourself Mr.Universe!” He stood up and saluted his new friend. “I’ll see you around. And hey, don’t worry about anything. Just hold onto that Cookie Cat and…keep going.

You’re going to do great kid.”

And as Steven smiled and ran off, talking to his three Gem mothers with big smiles all around, Isaac made a promise to himself. Sure, he was already protecting the world and this town but…

Well now he had another person to protect.

“You’re going to do great kid. I just know it.”

* * *

“Oh you cannot be serious.”

“You asked!”

Steven groaned. “But I was so young then!”

“Well, you were a good kid then and you’re a good kid now.”

“Stopppp calling me kid!”

Isaac smirked. “Well, excuse me for being nearly six thousand years ago.”

Steven groaned again and instantly realized that he really was just talking. Why?

“Why are we just talking like this?” Steven looked at Isaac with wide eyes. “You’ve killed…so many gems. 700 in that settlement alone. And you-”

Now Isaac looked serious. He had been leaning on his sword this whole time, hands in his pockets, and now he had a dark look in his eyes. “How many people have come for you of the assumption that you were Rose’s son? Or that you were Rose himself? Or better yet, that you had something to do with Pink Diamond? How many gems have put the people you love in legitimate danger?”

“How long does the list go Steven?”

Steven frowned. “Alright, it’s a long list, what’s your point?” He began to scowl. “All these stories, all these legends about who you are, doesn’t tell me anything about who you are and why you are doing this!”

But Isaac shouted back. “ **HOW MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN HURT BY THE DIAMONDS?! BY THE GEMS MOST LOYAL TO THEM, MADE TO _DESTROY!_** Oh sure, anyone can change, but not everyone wants to right? Those lapises that you came to years ago, oh they were free to do whatever they want. But they wanted to destroy planets? 

That Hackmonite right? She took the most pleasure in destroying lives and gems. And she didn’t change whatsoever. Sure, some have changed. Some were capable of great things. Spinel, Volleyball, hell all of the Crystal Gems. But that change only came with them experiencing great pain at the hands of, you guessed it, a Diamond. Oh but they’ve changed right Steven? At any moment Steven, they could destroy everything we held dear. They already did right? Thousands of lives suffered for it and for what? A lie?”

Steven growled. “I know she did wrong, hell, I’ve been at the end of it for years but trying to make them suffer for it isn’t going to help anything!”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “And you know this…how? It’s funny, everyone always tells me what I’m doing won’t help me heal but Steven, I’ve had five thousand years to wonder what will make me heal. Five thousand years…watching the world grow and evolve beyond me. I’ve wondered for so long how do you heal, but I know that…I can’t. I have thousands of years left to go and I refuse to watch anybody be hurt by those who would try to destroy us ever again.

Steven, we’re the only ones left behind to atone for Pink’s mistakes. We’ll always be looking over our shoulder. And somehow I truly doubt that the Diamond’s benevolent streak will last this long. I…”

Isaac opened his jacket, revealing his brand once more. As Steven got a better look at it, he realized that the brand was distorted. Like there was a rot at the center of it that was spreading. 

His whole look turned somber. “I’ve seen what they can do. Up close. The pain and agony they can cause. And sure, they’ve changed. But what about the lives who have suffered…for them. Because of them. I know full well what I’m doing is wrong…

But I have to do a wrong to end a cycle of pain and retribution created by the Diamonds. Then I’ll do it. To protect everything I have left.”

Steven looked shocked. “I’m sorry but…I won’t let you hurt more gems.”

He deployed his shield and stood determined and strong. And Baldur just sighed. 

“Right, right, you don’t understand, how could you possibly understand! Well, I don’t want a fight. So I’m just going to have to make you understand.”

Steven wavered slightly, looking just a bit scared. “What?”

Isaac’s eyes went wide. “Oh god, don’t worry, I’m not going to torture you or anything, jeez. I just…want to show you something.”

He opened up a portal beneath him and suddenly he was gone. Steven looked around frantically, not able to find him. He started to panic but…

Well, he didn’t have a chance to panic too much cause suddenly he felt something hit his head and he felt the whole world go dark. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyy! New chapter!   
> This one isn't as big as the last one, but it is building up to a two part flashback chapter.   
> As I am writing, as a side note, I am having the time of my life. The consistent comments, the people saying they are enjoying the story, it truly means a lot.   
> As always, I hope you enjoyed, and I shall seee you in the next chapter!


	10. Rage Against the Dying of the Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another very long chapter filled with a lot of flashbacks that may seem disjointed, but trust me, they all have a purpose.  
> Here's a guide:  
> Pre-Gem Battlefield  
> Modern Day  
> Corruption  
> Modern Day  
> Pre-Gem Battlefield  
> Enjoy!

_“We tried to hype ourselves up the night before. The night before before…we hit the Gem Battlefield. All of us, but mostly my fellow humans. Some gems joined in and it was great._

_There was drinks, songs, dances, and…a lot of healthy competition._

_We got absolutely wasted though.”_

* * *

“I’m not giving up.”

“Neither am I.”

“Well good, cause that means you’re learning the spirit of being a Crystal Gem!”

“Bismuth, I’ve been a member longer than you have!”

“Yes, but who was the one who forged your sword?”

“That…has nothing to do with anything- **DAMMIT!** ”

Bismuth slammed Baldur’s hand to the ground, causing it to sprain. She laughed heartily as the gems behind her cheered, and the humans booed. “Once again, I remain undefeated. Now you have to drink Baldur.”

Baldur was wearing a light fur vest. He didn’t want to wear anything too formal for the party. He chuckled while still looking annoyed. “That’s the fifth time you’ve cheated! You’re a complete menace at arm wrestling!”

She grinned. “Oh but Baldur, wasn’t it you who taught us to fight dirty and rip the confidence of Homeworld gems to shreds?”

The gems and humans behind them all went “Ohhhhhhh!” while Baldur had wide eyes. “Shit, I did say that didn’t I?” Then he grinned. “Ah well.” And he took a giant swig of the jug of beer. 

The cheering crescendoed around him as he finished the beer and kept grinning. “Alright Bismuth, you win this time.”

She scoffed. “It doesn’t feel like a win if I don’t get that!”

“Oh Bismuth, you could always _lose_.”

“Not a chance Baldur.”

Baldur grinned. “Oh I’ll gladly go for round…” He looked to a friend of his. “Weimar, how long have I been going?”

The friend responded with a deadpan tone. “Five rounds. This is getting a bit absurd man.”

Another human, Oscar, pitched in. “How the hell can you hold your liquor for that long?”

Snowflake laughed. “Even for humans, that is…not…human.”

Baldur chuckled. “Nonsense! I can totally go another-”

“Baldur!”

He looked to the source of the voice and saw Pearl, standing at the entrance to the tent. “There’s something I need to tell you!”

A choir of voices around him chanted “Oooooooooo!” once again as Baldur hung his head. Bismuth slapped his shoulder. “Sounds like you’re in trouble bud.”

He groaned as he stood up and walked towards the door. “This isn’t over Bismuth.”

He could vaguely hear Bismuth challenging other gems to a arm wrestling competition as he walked up to Pearl. “So…what’s wrong?”

Pearl had a knowing look in her eyes. “You’re scared.”

Baldur’s eyes immediately went wide. “Wha-”

“You’re drinking heavily, getting wasted-”

“Wait, Pearl-”

“Partying like crazy-”

“That’s not exactly new!-”

“And staying away from the rest of us-!”

Baldur snapped. “What’s your point?!”

Pearl was startled for a moment. Baldur immediately regretted his attitude and they both sighed at the same time. Pearl spoke first. “You’re nervous right? About tomorrow?”

Baldur scoffed. “Come on. A giant gem battlefield, very close to home by the way, containing a weapon of mass destruction. If we don’t take that field…the war is over. But Rose wants to take a huge huge risk and we could lose everything in the process. And I could lose my family.”

“I’m not nervous.

I’m _terrified_.

There, are you happy now? Did Garnet put you up to this?”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “What’s your issue with Garnet?”

Baldur raised his hands, exasperated. “I just-I don’t- **AGH!** ”

He slumped to the ground and put his head in his heads. He started to violently shake as Pearl knelt down to put her hand on his shoulder. Her face was sympathetic. “Another episode?”

Baldur tried to take a deep breath. “Yeah. I have had a lot of them recently. It’s just…scary. I’m scared. I know we have to take this opportunity, I know that in theory we have no choice but…a lot’s riding on this. And if we get it wrong, then… _I_ will lose everything. When you guys first came here, I had to explain what family was. And what it meant. 

If I lose that then…there is nothing left for me Pearl. Nothing left to fight for. And Rose and Garnet and their altruistic high and mighty-“ He looked up at Pearl and saw her eyes narrowed. Baldur released a breath with a sigh. “Well. You know what I mean.”

Pearl took Baldur in for a hug before he realized it. “I do. And I’m sorry. But I think it’s going to work out. And we are all right here with you. I promise.” 

Baldur groaned and Pearl immediately noticed. She smiled softly. “But just in case, Garnet, Rose, and I have organized…a little surprise for you.”

He looked up with wide eyes. “I’m sorry?”

Suddenly, he heard a large swarm of voices emerge behind him. He turned to look and was stunned. 

Rose and Garnet stood there, just in front of the warp pad. And in front of them…

His entire goddamn village. 

Everyone he had ever known his entire life were there. His brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, _everyone_. 

And standing right at the forefront…was his mother. 

Baldur was on the verge of tears as he looked at Pearl with a big grin. “Whose idea was this?”

“All of ours.” She smiled brightly. “I suggested it, Rose helped put it together, Garnet told us it was a good idea.”

Baldur wiped a tear from his eye. “Do I owe you anything for this?”

Pearl punched him in the shoulder with a big grin. “You don’t. Just give your mom a big hug for me.”

Baldur smirked. “I will…If you promise to beat Bismuth at arm wrestling. I’ll get you an audience with Rose if you do.”

Pearl blushed and then giggled slightly. “You’re on. Now go. They’re waiting for you.”

Baldur gave Pearl one last hug before he stood up and went to speak to his family. 

He barely took one step before he was bombarded by his family swarming him. He heard a cacophony of voices, all asking him different questions.

“Heyyyy how’s the war going?”

“How’s the valkyrie?”

“Is anyone available?”

“Have you found any lovers? Are you going to have children?”

“Have you been honoring our lineage?”

“Uncle, uncle! What is the coolest thing you’ve seen out there?”

“Have you met any gods?!”

Baldur did his best to answer any and all questions that was greeted his way, until he was greeted by a voice he knew full well. 

“Are you enjoying this?”

Baldur looked up to see Rose Quartz speaking to him. She smiled softly. “Are you? I know you were scared about the coming battle so I figured it was only fair that we treat you to something nice. But I was a bit worried that you wouldn’t like this and-”

Baldur had a wide smile. “I’m happy. Very happy.” He gestured to the tents. “I mean look at them.”

The villagers were mingling with the gems, talking, drinking, partying, playing. Pearl defeated Bismuth with a triumphant yell, and now people lined up to defeat her instead. People were dancing and singing, both old gem songs, and old Norwegian songs. Everyone was happy. _Happy_. 

Even in a time of grave war, of drastic circumstances, there was still time for joy. Brotherhood. And it brought a true smile to Baldur’s face. 

Rose smiled in turn. “I see what you mean.” She knelt down to Baldur with a genuine look of concern. “And look I…I am sorry, but if you trust me, you’ll know that we have no choice for tomorrow. I promise your family will be safe.”

Baldur nodded slightly, though deep down, he was still tense. “I believe you.” He smiled brightly and tried to keep moving. “Now if you’ll excuse me…I need to find my Mother.” 

He kept moving as Rose looked at him with a concerned look. Baldur kept walking as more of his family and fellow villagers swarmed him with warm smiles. And then suddenly, someone literally picked him up out of the crowd.

“Whoa!”

The voice responded. “It takes you longer than it should to get through the swarm. I’m making it easier.”

Baldur chuckled. “Thanks Garnet.”

Garnet finally put him down, freeing him from the crowds. Baldur looked up with a small smile and Garnet reciprocated. Then her look turned serious. “I understand you have issues with me?”

His eyes went wide and then he groaned. “I hate your future vision. So so much.” For a moment, he paused. Then he sighed. “It’s not…you per se. It’s the future vision. You keep saying that tomorrow will go great, all according to plan. But you also tell me that it could go really bad. But you won’t tell me how or if there’s anything we can do to stop it. 

And if there is even a chance of something going horribly wrong then-“

Garnet put her hand on his Baldur’s shoulder with a light smile. “I understand your concern.” Then her look turned more somber as she looked into the distance. “There are millions upon millions of ways that tomorrow could go. And truth be told, I don’t know how tomorrow could go. It could be the end of us all. But if this works…we can finally end the suffering the Diamonds have caused. We have to take that chance.” Her smile returned. “Besides…you won’t be fighting alone.” 

Baldur smiled softly. “Thanks Garnet. That…sort of helps. But if it doesn’t pay off, Ruby and Sapphire owe me some drinks.”

Garnet chuckled, taking off her shades. “Deal.” Then she gestured to her side. “Now go. Someone is waiting for you.”

Baldur raised an eyebrow. “Wha-?”

And suddenly he was attack hugged from behind. “Baldur, min sønn! It is so good to see you!”

He turned around and laughed jovially. “Mom! It’s great to see you too!” He took a good long look at her. It had been almost a year since he last saw her and she hadn’t changed much. She had long, flowing black hair that was barely started to turn grey. She wore a beautiful floral robe, and some bandages on her hand. Light bandages. 

Baldur hugged her back. “I missed you so much. How have you been?”

Frigg pushed Baldur slightly. “How have I been? How have you been?” She ruffled up his hair. “My son, fighting a galactic war! I am so proud!”

“Mooooooom!-”

* * *

Another dream. As Steven woke up with a start, he realized a dream had consumed him yet again. Another one of Isaac’s memories. 

He took sight of his surroundings and saw that he was in…a giant room. A hallway. He could see murals of these giant figures-

 _The moon base_?

He looked down and saw he was…constrained in ropes. He tried desperately to break out but the light on his gem…was dim.

What did Isaac do?

And speaking of which, the person dragging the chair he was in…Isaac, turned to him with a scowl. He held a gun in his right hand.

Uh oh.

He pointed it right at the tip of his head. “I know you mean well Universe. But please. 

**GET OUT OF MY HEAD**!”

And he slapped him over the head with the gun, and Steven drifted back into darkness. 

* * *

“Rose…” 

“Rose?! **DON’T WALK AWAY FROM ME**!”

“Baldur, come on, we need to go right now.”

Baldur stood there with a scowl. He took off his mask and looked at Rose dead in the eyes. “Don’t you dare. After what you just pulled, don’t even try to walk away like it was nothing.”

Pearl sighed. “She was an assassin Baldur! She was here to kill us, like all the other gems we’ve encountered today!”

Baldur’s eyes were filled with tears. “No. She was capable of change, I’ve seen it for thousands of years.”

Rose’s eyes went wide “Wait, you mean all that time, the voice you’ve been speaking to-?!

Baldur smiled deliriously. “Yeah! That’s her, now come on, we can still-”

Garnet scowled. “Why didn’t you tell us Baldur?!”

Baldur felt an anger come over him. “You cannot be serious. How many secrets has Rose kept from us?”

He looked Rose dead in the eye. “Answer me this, where is Bismuth?”

Pearl gasped. “Baldur! You know that we don’t talk about what happened the-”

“I didn’t ask you. I asked _he_ r.”

Rose sighed. She looked horribly somber. Baldur could hear the volcano starting to detonate behind him, but he didn’t care. 

“Look Baldur, I’m sorry about what happened but we need to go. The Diamonds have evacuated their forces for a reason.”

Baldur scowled. “Why do you think that is, huh? Because of that stunt you pulled with Pink Diamond?!”

Pearl gaped. “We had no choice!”

“There is always a choice. Maybe it seemed like a good option at the time, but the pain it cause…the pain it will cause. 

It can’t have been worth it.”

There was a haunting silence. Baldur could hear the magma bubbling but he did not care. Garnet sighed. “Listen Baldur, we are going home, now.”

But he had finally had enough.

He pulled his sword back and swung it wildly, causing the other three gems to step back. Rose’s eyes went wide. “Baldu-!”

Baldur scowled as his sword began to glow. “And what about my friends huh?! Our friends, the other crystal gems, are we just going to leave them for dead?!

Garnet stepped forward, fists raised. “We don’t have a choice! They are supposed to reach the rendezvous point and if they don’t-”

“ **WHY ARE WE LEAVING THEM BEHIND?!** ” Baldur’s hands were shaking. “Do you know what’s going to happen Rose? And why are you more important to the revolution than our friends?!” He was on the verge of tears. “How many of my loved ones do I have to lose for your mistakes?!” 

Pearl trembled. “Baldur…I…”

He screamed. “No, No! None of us are going anywhere until we save everyone. If you won’t let me do that…I’ll poof everyone here and keep you in my damn hair if I have to.”

Garnet deployed her gauntlets. “And how will that make things better?!”

Pearl held her hands over Garnet’s gauntlets. “Garnet, wait!”

“We don’t know if whatever the Diamonds are about to do can affect humans. If I keep you in my hair then-”

Rose shouted. “ ** _Stop! Please_**.” 

Baldur felt an energy begin to course under him. He wasn’t sure if it was his own, something from the Volcano…or something else entirely. Rose walked up to him and rested her hand on his shoulder. 

“Baldur please. We can figure this out. The rebellion won’t die today. With just us four we can rebuild. You aren’t alone anymore.”

His hands were shaking. Baldur felt conflicted and lost. But when he thought about it…

The choice was made for him the moment he lost it all. 

“I’m sorry. But thanks to you I _am_ alone.” Baldur slowly put his mask back on. “And I won’t let you take the last things I have left from me.”

* * *

There was distortion in the dream. As he slipped in and out of consciousness, there was distortion. Almost as if it was incomplete. 

Or perhaps the dream was fighting back. Steven wasn’t really sure which was worse.

But he didn’t exactly need every individual piece to understand what was happening. 

* * *

“ **GARNET! STOP!** ”

Baldur was a hell of a fighter. One of the best human fighters the Crystal Gems had encountered. And he had nearly a thousand years to protect his craft.

“I won’t let you do this Baldur!” 

And he had fought gems far more powerful than him. 

So why was he losing against Garnet? 

Her glasses were knocked off and she had a rage filled expression. Rose and Pearl were desperately trying to end the fight but it was not working.

Why was Garnet so riled up?

Steven kept wondering and wondering. It made no sense. 

What has made Garnet in the past before?

Betrayal, lies, manipulation of fusion, and knocking off her glasses?-

Baldur scowled, getting knocked back further onto the volcano, the lava incinerating his back. “What would Ruby and Sapphire do huh?! What is their wisdom?!”

Oh. 

Okay well, that makes some sense.

Garnet growled. “They aren’t here Baldur! We are! And it’s up to us to make the right decisions for the sake of the Crystal Gems!”

Baldur shouted, “ **WHAT CRYSTAL GEMS?! _WE’RE ABOUT TO LEAVE THE REST OF THEM FOR DEAD!_** ”

Garnet threw Baldur up to his feet and delivered another punch to his chest, knocking him backwards. Rose and Pearl were now actively trying to hold Garnet back, but it was not working. Once she broke free of the hold though…something occurred to her, finally. 

She held Baldur by the collar and picked him up, taking him slowly to the top of the volcano. Once his feet slowly tipped off of the edge of the volcano, 

“Why. Aren’t. You. Fighting. Back?!” 

And Steven could _hear_ the thoughts running through Baldur’s head.

_Because I have no idea what I’m doing._

_Because I’m scared._

_Because this is a fight I can’t win._

_Because I don’t know why I’m fighting my only friends._

But his determination burned through, Baldur’s sword lit up, and he spoke…But Steven couldn’t hear Baldur’s voice.

No. 

He heard his own as he smirked. 

“Because Garnet. If there is one thing I’ve learned…is to use the over-confidence of a powerful opponent. _And rip it to shreds_.”

The light from his sword blinded Garnet, and she staggered back. He delivered a blow with the sword, just barely scratching her chest. Before he could deal another attack however, she charged Baldur and grabbed him with both of her gauntlets. 

He grinned, about to raise his sword. “If you think that this will be enough to bring me down then- **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!** ”

Steven felt it. The searing pain of both ice and fire consume him. It was an agony beyond all measure, and if Steven could feel traces of it…

The pain Baldur felt…

It was simply unimaginable. 

Garnet dropped him suddenly in shock. Her spout of anger had ended(why did this seem hauntingly familiar), and she now looked terrified and saddened. “Baldur I…I am so sorry.”

He could hear the sounds of Pearl and Rose gasping in horror. But Baldur didn’t care. 

Why…

“Did our friendship…ever mean anything to you?”

Rose spoke first. “What?”

But Baldur just scowled. He stood up, showing just how broken his body had become. It was both burned and frozen completely, both ice and embers oozing off of his body. Sure it would heal. But the pain he experienced…that wouldn’t. “Did anything we ever did for you Rose…did it ever matter? Rose…we gave our lives for you. Our very existences. Bismuth, Crazy Lace, Biggs, Larimar…Pearl, Garnet…me. Did it ever mean anything to you?”

He stood on the edge of the volcano…on the edge of oblivion. His sword was raised and pointed at the gems as the fires at the edge of it started to burn. “I gave everything I had for you Rose. Everything. My life. My soul. My loved ones. And it never meant a thing.

How long before _they_ realize how far your love gets them?”

He held his sword up high and charged at the gems with one last resounding scream until he was stopped short by a sword through the chest. 

Rose’s. 

Rose was crying. Same as the other two gems. “I’m truly sorry Baldur. You deserved so much better and I…I’m sorry.”

Baldur forced himself off of the sword(did what Stevonnie do to Isaac just hours ago…mess with his head because of this?) and he stepped backwards towards the volcano. And he laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed. 

“You? _Sorry?! **How many times have I heard that line from you?!**_ How many people have been hurt because of you? Because of what’s about to happen?” He started cackling. “And you have the audacity to think an apology will be enough? After all this time?! The only thing that will be enough…is a lifetime of atonement.

But even that may not be enough.”

Baldur let out one last chuckle, staring at the awed faces of the gems he loved as much as his own family. “You better get moving now if you want to live. Better make those wasted lives count for something.”

Pearl screamed out. “But we can still help you!”

And Baldur smiled one last time. “Pearl…you’re my best friend. But we all knew that I was doomed the moment I decided to join your revolution. I was flesh and blood. While you could live and see till the end of days.”

They had no response to that. 

So he just closed his eyes and said one last goodbye. 

“ _Mine venner, Jeg’ll se deg i helvete._ ”

Steven could feel the message Baldur was trying to convey and heard it come through based on that. 

And it explained Pearl’s broken look as he let gravity take over and plunge him into the volcano.

“My friends, 

I’ll see you in hell.”

* * *

What the hell.

I fell down a volcano after getting stabbed through the chest by Rose, and I burned alive. 

How the fuck am I still alive?

Rose and her curse. Her stupid stupid curse.

I just wanted to see my family again was that _too_ much to ask?!

I could hear the burning embers and screaming around me. The snow and fire that touched my skin. It was both serene and horrifying. 

Okay, what happened?

I fell into the Volcano as it was erupting so…

I must’ve been thrown out…here.

This isn’t too far from that… _battlefield_. 

Where it all went wrong.

No, focus Baldur, focus!

Is _she_ okay?

Let me just reach my hand into my hair and…

Okay, I can still feel something. Good. 

Now, my sword.

It’s…still here. 

There it is. Right in front of me, in the dirt.

Do I even dare pick it up?

…Yes. I have to see this through, no matter what.

Now what-

“ ** _BALDUR!_** ”

The hell?!

Wait, the communication device Dot gave me!

It still _works_!

“Weimar, is that you?!”

“Yes! Man, when I heard the volcano detonate I feared the worst!!”

“I’m okay you beautiful bastard! Where are you?!”

“We are in the abandoned ship, in the mountain! Under the waterfall, remember? It was the closest place we could find to take shelter.”

My eyes went wide. 

“Take shelter from _what?_ ”

“I have no idea but…Dot says it’s the end of days.” 

Weimar sounded scared. I had never heard him sound scared. 

“Okay I’ll…be there soon.”

“Wait, what about Rose, Garnet, and Pearl!”

I couldn’t help the waver in my step. 

I didn’t know whether I should hate them or not.

I wanted to…more than anything,

But it meant nothing. Because I know they’d forget me. So what’s the point in hating them?

“They’re safe. I’ll see you on the other side Weimar.”

And then I _ran_. 

As fast as I could, through the dirt, the flames, the snow. I kept running through the screaming and shouting and I really got to see the depth of the carnage. 

I could see the Homeworld ships fleeing the atmosphere. The gems, both Homeworld and Crystal, running as fast as they could to outrun the apocalypse.

And it was an apocalypse. The volcano was preparing to erupt again and…

There was a light at the horizon. 

Some kind of brightness…

_This little thing you’re doing, seeing my past, my emotions._

_Do you really think it doesn’t go both ways?!_

Nephrite. There was a Nephrite stuck under some rock. 

It was Homeworld but…

No. No, I had to save her. 

Not for Rose…

But to help someone get out of the mess she created.

“Hey are you okay?!”

The moment I saw her terrified face, I knew I was still wearing the mask.

“You-You’re the Terran!”

I took the damn thing off. It would do me no good now.

“Well, right now, I’m a friend. Come on, I’m getting you out of here.”

It didn’t take much to push the boulder. I have had to push worse off of Pearl and Rose’s stupid asses. 

But to the Nephrite…

Well, it was easy to see why it looked so incomprehensible. 

“How did you do that?”

_I ask myself that question every single day._

“Time and practice. But enough about that, you need to go Captain.”

Her eyes went wide. “How did you know I was a captain?!”

_Cause I saw Pearl tear you out of a ship that one time._

I couldn’t help but smile lightly. “That cape gives it away. You might want to toss it for now. Pick it up if you ever return here. It’ll just hold you back.”

_And it’ll stop you from getting yanked out ever again._

She surprisingly followed my advice with a smile. Then her look sobered. “I hope you survive the coming attack. Good luck”

She quickly ran off, leaving me to wonder.

What attack?

_There is nothing left for me here Steven._

**I HAVE NOTHING.**

**NO ONE.**

**ALL I HAVE LEFT IS THIS MISSION.**

_The world doesn’t need me anymore._

  
I hit the ground with a crash.

Someone had ran me down. 

Who? Who would attack me now when the world is coming undone?!

He looked at the sight to see…

A seething Ammolite.

Because of course. 

“ _ **YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!**_ ” She delivered a hefty punch right to my skull. 

It didn’t hurt, but still.

“My rank from White Diamond was stripped after my failure. And your pathetic Crystal Gems kept ruining everything, and then you went and killed Pink Diamond, and now…NOW WE ALL DIE!”

“It doesn’t have to end like this! We can still escape!”

 _I knew what she was going to say though._ The moment she attacked me, she only had one intention.

“Oh…I don’t think so.”

And then I heard it. 

That melody. That damned melody.

A song that instantly made me feel like my body was being ripped to shreds.

And right at that moment, Ammolite triggered her chronokinesis and…

My world came undone.

* * *

A nightmare. That’s what it was. A nightmare. 

Baldur woke up in a completely white hallway. And the feeling he felt in his gut threw him for a loop. He felt completely sick to his stomach. This was…new.

Unlike anything he had seen before. 

It was like the walls were alive and they were…moving. Reaching towards him with insidious intent. 

Then he heard the crying. The screaming. 

He tried to run away from it but it was like his body was moving on its own will. Running toward the unknown. 

The entire concept of time seemed wrong as Baldur just wanted to collapse and vomit but he couldn’t. He felt the tears begin to consume him as a blue energy surged throughout the hallway.

And then he heard singing.

But not one harmonious voice, the cacophonous voices of many unknown figures placed just beyond his reach. 

“ _Here in the garden…”_

_“Do you believe in destiny?”_

_“I think we made something entirely new…”_

_“Life and death and love and birth…”_

_“Play my tricks._

_Fragile mind.”_

_“Trouble on my left, trouble on my right…”_

_“W̷̢̨̛͚̪͉̱̭͍͈͍̲͐̌͑e̵̺̙͖̬̰͈͘'̴̧̝̲̻͉̥̍̔̈͘ͅr̶̢̯͍͙̞̹̣̈̋̓̇̈͐̾̽̆̈́́̉͜e̴̘̦̟̩̼̘̼̋̉̓̓͛̌͒̌̿̂̽̇̈́͜͜͜͠ ̷̥̉̈́̿̇̐̄̈́̕j̴̟̜̯͙̫̰͙̣̓̓̍̀́́̀̅̚͜͠ù̷̡͚̯̺̟̜̪̰̙̠͓́͒̓͌̀͂͆̀̒̂̔̽́͒͜s̷̢̟͎̟̠͚̟̼̱̳̜̈́͌̇̈́͂̒̊̋t̸̢̨̞̜̬̪͕̲͍̄̈́̓̊ ̵͓͎̿͑͆̊̓͑͐s̵̨̝̥̻̠̜͈̯̝̗̲̎̈̅͊̽̇̎͒̂͌́̒́̃͝ơ̷̡̡̖̼̳̗͇̹͇̘̦͙̥̫̞̌̾̅́̕ ̵̢̤̹̠̩͐̍̅̅b̶͔̗̭̑̓̉͒̿̂̋̆o̸̥̖͎̮̹̐̅͛͛̓̈̉̑̒̑͊͌́͝ͅų̶̲̤̙̹̘͓̝͍̝̳̍̔̾͒ṅ̵̤̣̠͈͔̌̎͑̍̃d̷̯̺̗̝̭̠͖͉̩̗̲͎̭͇͂̑̉̋͗̽̈́ ̷̧̨̨̜̻̟͇͎͉̟͈̔͋̿̑̋͗̅͜͜t̶̢̜̘͖̪̲̙͕̞͎̯̏̍͂̆̈͝ͅo̸̧̦͙͍̝̹͎̣͔̹̯̹̺̟̾̈̋̃͋͑̔͜ ̸̠̀͗m̵̛̫̳̒̿̆̏̑̚a̵̫͔̙̙̭̬͍̠̦̺̾͋̑k̶̙̩̿́̎ĕ̷̜̤͙̲̝̣͎͔͍̗̖̣̬̱̞̎̎̍̒̄͆̉͛̃͊̕ ̵̠͚̘̫̻͉͙͔̞̲̠̪͖̉͗͜m̷̠̿͗̃̄̌͌̉͆̚ì̸̢͔̬̜̰͈̪̜̺̅̀̉́̈́̎͜͜s̴͔̘͔̻̺̘̗̫͕̟͑͛̃̍͋ͅţ̸̪͖͔͈̰͙̪̣̪̜͓̒̏̽̍͂̊a̷͈͓͍͉͓̠̼͉̦͕̲̔͒͑͆͋̇͊̎̓̃̚͜k̷̬̥̫̬̣̐e̴̝͎͖̞͔͈̘͎̠͎̠͉̲͗̂̑͛͘͘ͅş̷̡̦͎̦̘̝̝̺̟͎̗́́_   
_̴͙͚̱̮̆̌_   
_̶̡̼͉̲̬͚͈͍͕̠̹͎͖͛̃͆̒͐͝_   
_̴̱̪̩̽͌͂̂̈́̓̍̓͝_   
_̵̧̙̗̩̘̫͚͇̼͕̻̻̦͈̃̂̇̍̾̈́̂́̌͛̎̉̈́͜͝͝Y̷̠̝̥̝̠̮̝̌̆ǒ̸̥͝ù̸̧̓̐ͅ ̵̼̬͐͆̈̐̀̌͘͝č̵̡̨̧͎̘̲͉͙̲̩͎̗̓̓͌̆̌̀͆͘̕̕͜͝o̷̘͂͐̂ų̴̫̜͔̯̜̘̫͎̝̙͍̙̼̓̓̓̅͑̓̔͠l̴̥̬͙̠̙̓̓̐̚d̴̺͍̹̞̦̠̳͍̀̓̆̏͒́̎ ̵̢͈̙̙̰̪̙̰̮̀̍͋̃̓̊̊͗̉̒͑̓̄͋ͅc̵͈̲͛̓̒̃͌̒̾̉̉̊̚̚a̴̡̡̺̭͈͓̥͊̾̀̋̈́̿̈́͐͑̈́̆̃̚͝͠ļ̵̢̛̛̺͇͍̞̞̹͕̬̒̓͌̍̈̈́̃̿̓͠ͅḻ̷̗̬̙̗͕͌̌́̋͘͠͝ ̷̡̼͎̥̲̘̼̱͋͂ͅì̷̺̼̱͎̞̲͚̥͎̭̤̙͌͗͊̂͆̒̽͑͛͆̕͜ţ̸̜̮͉̺̬͈̮̋ ̵͎̦̫̏͆̆̒̄̀̎̈́͑͐͘a̷̺̜͔̤̯̜̥̅̔́̓̿͝ ̴̜͔͎̜̟͊͑̓͊̿́͑͋̉̂͠d̶̡͉̜͙̳̹͔̠͎͓̞̟̀́͐̆̿͋̃͌̔͊̑͘î̸̡̧̨͈͚̭̠̭̜͔̲̠̈́̊̾̿̋̉̉̔͆̈́̏ͅs̷̢̱̻̱͓͈̙̘̠͓̲̈p̶̡̗͈̝̝̜̞͓͍̦͚̮̺̆̒̐̂ͅō̵̞̼̦̘͍̞̘̘̦̳͖̌͑s̵̡̛̭̠̦͇̙̗̖͒̌̽͒̔̓͒̀̋̆̌̀͜͝i̴̪̥̬̰̯͓͕͖̒̀̿̇͂̎͘ͅţ̶̡̟̳̦͖̓̓̇́͝ͅi̴̪̘͒͛ͅo̵̢̨̺̙̗͎͙̘̟͆̀͂̓̃̃̋͑̕͜ṉ̸̨̳̤̟̰̪̬̙͍̤̏͑̈̄̀̑̄͐̿̊̒ͅ”_

_“Ḧ̴̡̧̗͉͍̰̞̝̞̫̝̝̓̍̇́̈́͛͌̾́͐̑̒̓͝ͅe̶̛͉̟̼̭̼̘͚̳̦̗͈̅̽̈̎͐̄͛̾͆̌̽̈́̕͠ŗ̴͕̘̼̦̱̮̬͖̅̐̄̌̐é̵͓͕͇͌̔ ̴͕̳̃̽ͅw̵͇̫͍͍̝̻͚͂̆e̸͕̤̣̬̯͒̀́̇̆̈́̚ ̵̧̖̲͈̯̟̯͓̣͙̞̎͛͗͊͐ą̸̨̛̯̙̯̺̪̦̫͇̪̥͛̎̇͋̔̅͗̎̔͝͝r̴̨̥̲̪̟͚̰̮͓͗̆͊̍̀̐ẽ̵͙̝̝̒͑̄̑̓͐̕̕͝͝͝ ̶̢̮̰̙̪̺̀͐̓i̶̢̠̫̗̺̺͋̎̕ń̷̡̧̨͈͓̻͙͓͕̦͐̐͒̈́̾͘̕̚͝͠ͅ ̷̢̧̨̛̰̖̝͚͈̤͔͛̾͛̏̌͆̾͐́̈́̄̚͜͝ţ̷̰͈͌͑̓͋ḫ̴̢͍͇͇̦̺̩̱̺̅̂̋̄̂̊̍̽̐̚͝ͅę̶̫͔̘̤̪̭̻̠̜̓͜ ̸̧̨̮̞̯̣̲̤̳̥͉̈́̀͛͗͐̀͐̊͑f̶̧̳͇̮̩͉̗̝̭̭̺̆̓͠ū̵͓͉̤͉̰̙͔̥͎̟͖͈̺̄͆̽t̷̢̢̘̪͇̮̺̻̩̘̤͇̙̰̾̽̎̎̑̐̓̎͛͐̍͂͝͝u̵̟͉̎̈́̾̇̆͑͐̊͑̈̎̚ŗ̴̛̱͎̭̣̻̘͉̖̮̲͗̃̈̓̅̏̐͂͝͠e̵͈̋̈́̇̈́́!̸̺̮͚̣͒̏̊̎̔̿̄̈̈́̓̔̑̍͂̂”_

_“H̴̰̤͖̍͘e̶̱̤͚͐̆r̶̦̪͈̜̍̾͜ĕ̸̫̲̖̥͗̈̔͘ ̷̛̞͆́̃̓t̵̢͓͉̗̠̿̃̔̈́ơ̴̦̳͈̒̈́̚ ̷͉̬͌̌ĉ̶̛͚̼͉̆̇h̴̞̞̼͇͖̏̓͂́̕ë̴̛̺̣̓͌̂r̵̢̢̲̮͔̽̕͝͝i̶͎̬̽̐͂s̴̛̝̃̒̐͜ͅh̷͇̗̎͜͝ ̴̗̣̆̒͊͒͘è̷͇̽̉ȃ̴͓͉̤c̸̛͈̫̃̑̔h̵̀́̕͜ ̴̨͖̮͑̉̀m̶͈͚̻̫̤̿͊̓͑o̷̦͈̱͇͗̒͜͠m̶̀͜e̸͎͉͇̻͚̐͌̑̕ǹ̴̠͈̱̻͌t̶͔̔͊̽̆̊͜ ̴̧̱̭̈́̓͌̈́͜I̴̻̺̪̟͝'̷̡̒͆̂̏m̴͈͙͎̓̽̿̑͠ ̴̛̣͓̞̠ś̷̖p̸͚̾̇͆ė̸̟͚̍̈̓n̷̢̋̌̈́͋͊ď̶̰̂͝i̴̝͙͓̝͗̕̚n̵̢͔̗̆̓̆͑g̴̨̥͚̞̱̐͒͝ ̴̧̺̥͍̌͒̋̔ͅw̶̰̆͑̍͂i̸̢̧͉̜͙͆t̶̨̮̤̭͛̏̄ͅh̸̠́ ̶̢̮̺̼͛̉̃͗̍f̴̥̝̩̾ȑ̷̙̑i̶͉̭͗e̴̞͗̑̾̋̅ǹ̶̪̬͚̲͍́͝d̴̺͎̫̏̉̓͘͝s̷̺̲͐̆̒.̴̟̔̌͂̓.̸̡͖̒̂̆͝͝.̴̯̎̅͂̅_

  
It was too much, it was driving his ears mad. 

He kept charging and charging towards the door, now hearing so many different sounds around him that were continuing to break his mind and soul more and more. 

It felt like ages, but Baldur finally dashed through the door. The sight that greeted him however was something that once again, began to tear at him. 

Three giant gems. One white, one blue, one yellow. 

The blue one was crying and the yellow one was holding her with a scowl. The white one however was watching over them with an eerie smile.

Oh no.

No, no, no.

Blue _Diamond_ was the first to speak. “Oh Pink…how I miss you so…”

Yellow looked up at White with a light scowl. “Do you think it worked?”

And White chuckled. It sounded wrong, all of this sounded wrong. “Our song was enough to wipe out the entire gem race. It certainly would have decimated that pathetic planet.”

Then she looked right at him. Her gaze went straight to his soul and he felt remarkably vulnerable. 

“ _Right now my primary concern is on our guest._ ”

“No!”

Baldur tried to run but immediately felt the grasps of thousands of arms beneath him. All gems that looked to be demented beyond all belief. 

And the screaming.

There was no question, it was the screams of the dead.

“ **FEEL OUR PAIN.** ”

He looked up and saw the Diamonds aiming their hands at him, chanting. 

“ **FEEL OUR PAIN.”**

**“FEEL OUR PAIN.”**

**“FEEL OUR PAIN.”**

**“FEEL OUR PAIN.”**

**“FEEL OUR PAIN.”**

Baldur held his head in pain as the arms started to drag him deeper into the depths. “No…Leave me alone please, I’ve suffered enough!”

White grinned. “There is no such thing.”

Yellow scowled. “Your so called leader took our Pink from us!”

And then Blue…

Well she had her own shred of pain on her face. “You can never understand our pain.”

But then she smirked. “But you will.”

Baldur screamed out, sobbing. “No, please, don’t do this, I’ve suffered enough-!”

Just then the chanting reached it’s crescendo and it turned to a loud ear-piercing scream which turned to that damned song. It destroyed his soul as he was brought through the floor into a deeper pit. 

He fell into the dirt, the ashen waste around him, and instantly felt the ashes and darkness begin to consume him once more. 

If the hallway above him was a home to the light, this…cavern was filled with darkness. It invaded his very core like a parasite. 

Baldur brought himself to his feet, finally in control of his own body, and instantly threw up. But the only thing that came out of his mouth was more darkness. 

Before he could wonder why he was throwing up a black liquid, he heard a sound. He turned to look, and he saw it. 

A palanquin.

Rose Quartz.

And Pink Diamond.

Baldur held his head again in horror. “No, no, no! Don’t do this Rose!”

He ran as fast as he could to face the two, trying to stop the inevitable. Apparition or not, he had to do something, he needed to change the past! 

“Rose, it won’t help anything! You will only damn us all, please! Don’t do this!”

Then something happened that shocked him. 

Rose vanished.

_And stabbed him in the back, right through his chest._

He collapsed to the ground, the pain consuming him. 

Baldur looked back with horror in his eyes. “Rose…why?!”

He watched as Pearl and Garnet approached her, vacant and dark looks filling their eyes, all saying the same thing.

“This was only ever going to end one way.”

And then he heard the laughter.

“Oh, I don’t think I could’ve said it better myself!”

Baldur whipped his head to face Pink Diamond with a dark look in his eyes. She was laughing and it drove him further into the darkness. 

“Oh my dear Rosie did everything I could’ve ever wanted!”

“You’re lying. She _hated_ you.”

“And yet she made my job easier! I was meant to colonize this planet for the Diamond Authority, ripping this planet clean of its resources and it’s life. And look at what Rose did! She started a meaningless war that only ended in the deaths of all traitorous gems and the complete destruction of her planet!” She raised her hand to her forehead in a taunting manner. “Oh, it’s almost poetic!”

Baldur scowled and drew his sword. “No, you’re dead. Gone. You can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

Pink kept laughing and stepped forward towards Baldur, slowly and slowly. “Oh, but so many people have already been hurt. Because you were never enough. Because of your pathetic humanity. Even when I was gone, people were doing all the hurting for me! My subjects truly are something! It’s such a shame your family had to die, but it could only ever end one way, right?”

He wavered and had a sad look in his eyes. “Why…why are you doing this?! You don’t have to hurt anyone ever again, you can just stop and end it here! Please…”

Pink was right in front of him, to the point where he could clearly see her features even in the darkness.

But then something horrible began to happen. 

The room started to come alive again, arms sprouting up from the ground and the walls. A monster emerged in the darkness, some kind of worm, whispering some runic language only decipherable for him.

_“We both want to be needed.”_

_“There’s nothing left for me.”_

_“You will die alone and forgotten.”_

_“You are **nothing.** So high and mighty, so brave, and yet beneath it all, you are scared.”_

The room began to light up with white, blue, and yellow…they were here weren’t they. 

And then every being in the room began to laugh maniacally. It was a horrible, empty sound that started to drive Baldur mad along with that melody further blasting in his head. The laughing kept going and going and going until it suddenly stopped. 

Then Pink light began to emerge from Pink Diamond herself.

Baldur looked up to her, fearing the worst.

And then she threw her own head back and laughed. 

  
“‘Why am I doing this?!’ Because I can! Because it’s fun! 

Because I enjoy making people suffer.”

And then she raised her hand, and suddenly Baldur felt blind. 

Light swarmed him and began to rip his body to shreds, his eyes most of all. He collapsed to the ground, agony consuming him as the entire spectrum of light began to tear into him. Baldur tried to open his eyes but he was continuously knocked back to the ground, over and over and over again.

**“PATHETIC!”**

**“WORTHLESS!”**

**“YOU ARE NOTHING!”**

**“YOU WILL DIE ALONE AND FORGOTTEN.”**

Baldur was slammed into the ground repeatedly for who knows how long. More than that, it was like his entire…being was being ripped open. His sense of self and identity distorted, his physical being and…scars viciously opened, and his emotions were in ruin. Was this that song? That damned song? He didn’t know what was happening anymore. But what he did know was that he just wanted it to end. More than anything, he just wanted the pain to stop. 

But just then, it did stop. The pain and yelling stopped. He finally tried to open his eyes and was greeted by a swarm of colors. He could almost see the reflection of his eyes in the now glassy dirt he was sitting on, and they looked wrong. Distorted. Like a rorschach test that had no answer. No directive. 

He looked up and saw Rose. Just Rose and the Crystal gems standing behind her. 

And that giant fucking worm. 

Baldur saw a blue coloring begin to fill the creatures gut, as if it was charging something. 

And Rose chuckled. “I’m sorry Baldur. But you were never one of us. You were just another human who came along playing pretend, acting like a hero. But you’re a nobody. And you’ll die a nobody too.”

All of his hope died out as the Worm’s blast ripped him apart one last time. And just like that, darkness filled his soul as he fell into a never ending pit. As he fell into oblivion.

As he fell he heard talking. More memories.

He remembered one very vividly.

Rose had come up to him days after the attack on the Gamma Kindergarten, after watching some fellow gems get shattered. 

She looked incredibly sad as she sat down and asked him, “…Where do humans go when they die?”

He certainly hadn’t expected the question, but he smiled softly. “In my culture, there is the belief that if you die honorably, specifically in battle, you go to a place called Valhalla. According to the legends, it was a place ideal for any Viking. They would fight all day and participate in valorous deeds, and in the night, they would be healed so they could do it all again. It is a place of vice and virtue all at once…But I suppose it’s not all selfless. It’s still a life of fighting.”

Rose still looked somber. “…What happens if you don’t die honorably?”

“You go to a place called Hel. The land of the dead. Whether you ended up there had nothing to do with how virtuous you were. It simply had to do with how you died.”

Seeing no change in Rose’s expression, Baldur tried to salvage the situation. “But everyone has different beliefs about how people die. It’s the nature of the world, there are always differing beliefs about how one dies.”

Rose looked up at him with curiosity. “What do you believe?”

And as Baldur drifted further into oblivion, he remembered. 

“I don’t think it matters. Where we go after we die…I mean, sure, it can comfort us, but…we should really be focused on how we live. What we do, the lives we touch, the people we help. If you ask me, that’s far more valuable than how, when, or what it means when we die.”

He heard other people talking too.

_“I want my own planet!”_

_“Let me tell you the story of Rose Quartz…”_

_“You hurt everyone!”_

The world would forget him right? That was just the way things worked.

He’d be forgotten. 

And the world would be in ruin. Always.

And it was all because of...

Wait, what was that?

It sounded like…some kind of weird music…

It wasn’t that melody from before, this was new. 

Then he heard a voice. And it was his own voice.

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._ ”

The darkness began to clear. The smoke began to fade. The doubt dissipated. 

And Baldur began to rise. 

“Though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.”

He thought of his mother, his father, his friends and family from Midgard. He thought of the gems that still loved him and supported him. He thought of Pearl and the brotherhood he shared with her. He thought of Garnet and her wisdom. 

And he thought of Rose.

And his rage against her crimes. 

“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright, Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” 

He thought of home. _His_ home. The snow and the peace of it all. He thought of the Homeworld gems ripping it apart. 

He thought about how he could still stop them. 

“Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, do not go gentle into that good night.”

He thought of what he’d lost in service of the Crystal Gems. He thought of the thousands dead and gone. 

He realized it was vein to stop fighting for their memory now.

“Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight, blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

He remembered the pain Rose had caused him.

No, it was vein to be mad at Rose. All of the Diamonds had ruined him, ruined all of their lives. 

The cycle began with them. 

It should end with them too. 

“And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." 

He thought of the pain and anguish of everything he’d lost. Of the pain he’d been dealt. Of his brand and his death. Of all of it. 

And he was still here. 

Death wouldn’t come to him. There was no Valhalla or Hel for him. 

_So he would just have to keep fighting._

The endless tunnel began to finally clear, and he could see the snow and light, not pink, blue, yellow, or white. But red and orange. Human light.

His light. 

He heard a thousand familiar comforting voices telling him one thing in his own tongue. 

“ _Rise._ ”

He knew it. He knew from here on out, he would look past today, to fight until tomorrow. To spend every day doing what the gems couldn’t. Help people. Truly help people. 

Because if he was going to live to see oblivion. 

He may as well spend it fighting for what he believed in. 

Whatever the Diamonds had done, it was meant to annihilate all gems. And perhaps it would’ve worked on him.

But he was still human.

And he knew…

_That he could beat this._

And as his mind began to finally clear.

He _did_.

* * *

Steven felt his eyes opening just slightly. His head hurt like hell but he could vaguely feel a band-aid on his forehead.

He looked forward with what vision he had and saw Isaac looking pensively at him. He looked…conflicted. 

“I don’t know if you’re hearing this but…I can’t blame you for looking into my memories. I just can’t. You aren’t doing it on purpose and…I asked for this. I wanted you to know my past but I just…can never have the will to say it all. 

Maybe this makes things easier. Reliving my experiences so I can come to terms with it. But I relive it every night. In my nightmares, I can still feel the pain. The agony. The corruption song in my head. 

The betrayal.

But sometimes, once every couple of years…I feel the hope. The feeling of rising. And those songs…I still feel those too. 

But I can never know the names of those songs. I guess it doesn’t truly matter. 

All I ever want to do…is to reclaim that feeling of hope. That hope I haven’t felt in years. Centuries. 

Because for thousands of years, this planet has been ground zero for the greatest tyrants in the universe showing just what kind of pain they can cause. 

I thought you could break the cycle, and in many ways, you did. But Steven, I don’t think I will ever have a good night’s sleep again. Because monsters are still coming. From Homeworld, the galaxy, humanity, the government…

I can never be free from it because I’ve been cursed…to never die. There will be no Valhalla for me. 

I told Pearl once that there is always a choice in what you do. Well, I’m choosing to do this. I have to end it. I have to be the one to end the cycle. 

So I can sleep again. 

So I can finally _hope_ again.”

And as Steven drifted back into sleep, a small part of him wanted to help him by any means necessary.

* * *

“Wow…that does seem stressful.”

Baldur chuckled at his mother’s reaction. “Yeah. It’s hard to believe I got so caught up in all this. But I’m happy about it. Even if I’m caught with these idiots.” The two of them were sitting off to the sidelines, away from the drinking and partying, just enjoying the night sky. He turned to her with a sad smile. “Do you think Father would be proud?”

Frigg looked at Baldur with wide eyes, and then she hugged him. “Of course he would. You have made us all proud. You have made me proud. With the honor you have brought us, sure. But most of all compassion you have shown. I couldn’t have asked for a better son.”

Baldur felt tears well up in his eyes. “I…thanks Mom.” He hugged back. He let himself relax in her embrace. He felt at home. Safe. But then his look turned serious and he let go of her mother. “Mom, you need to get our people to evacuate before tomorrow-”

But she stopped him right there with a fierce grip. “No, absolutely not. Our family doesn’t run from things, you know that.”

Baldur turned desperate. “But Mom, I can’t lose you too-!”

Frigg held him tight. “Son…you are strong. But there is something you must learn. There is always loss in life. Always darkness in light. 

And never doubt that there is darkness in the world. Or perhaps out of this world. Evil and death and betrayal and loss, these are constants. 

But you Baldur? You are a light. An eternal light in the darkness. The hope you have brought our village, and your people…it is ever lasting. And no matter what tomorrow may bring…I would do anything to keep that light alive, because you are my son. 

So not only are we not going anywhere, but we will fight with your gems.”

Baldur’s eyes went wide as tears dripped down his cheeks. “What?!” Then he scowled. “Did Rose request this?!”

Frigg chuckled. “You should know that no one can change my mind. Not even a Goddess like her. Rose knows, and she approved it. 

Baldur, you are my son. I will always protect you, and you can’t change that. Okay?”

He still looked conflicted, but soon, he sighed. He smiled softly. “I guess not. Just please…stay safe.”

Frigg grinned. “Why, I’m a great fighter myself! Remember who taught you!”

Baldur smiled. “Of course. Just…don’t leave okay? Promise me that.”

Frigg had a sad smile. “I can’t promise that. We must all die someday, you know that. 

What I can promise is that I won’t leave _you_. Even after death. 

…How about you make me a promise?”

“Anything.”

And as the cheering in the background was loud as ever, Frigg gave her son one final hug. One of the last hugs she would ever give her son. 

“Get a good nights sleep tonight. 

And never, ever stop fighting against the darkness. 

Never stop _hoping_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay wow, this chapter was a big one. And there was a lot to unpack here so let's start.  
> First, the flashbacks. They may come off as a bit frustrating, but I wanted to capture the feeling of a nightmare from both Isaac and Steven's point of view. It is alllll over the place, and that's kind of the point. And in terms of that use of time and past, present, and future foreshadowing...it may seem a bit over the top, but it was something I really wanted to do. The corruption had a unique effect on Isaac and he is still very very traumatized by it, and I wanted to show just why that is.  
> This chapter was crucial. It was our chance to learn more about Isaac and why he is the way he is, why he is frustrated with Rose and why he stayed away for years, and our first look at what corruption really is(before Future destroys my hopes and dreams, but we'll see)  
> But for now, I hope you enjoyed! Sorry I dropped this a day later but...well, it turns out a lot of Connverse fics especially are dropped on Monday so I wanted a day to myself, hence the new schedule of Tuesday and Thursday. Maybe. We'll see how it goes.  
> Please leave a comment if you can, I'd love to know everyone's thoughts on this chapter. And look forward to Part 2!(Sort of) Soon!  
> See ya!


	11. Standing at the Edge of Oblivion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know not of what comes tomorrow. 
> 
> I know only that this man on the spire shall avenge us

Baldur’s eyes reopened as the song reached it’s final crescendo. Not his song. The Diamonds’ song. 

At that moment it truly occurred to him that it really had been just a dream. 

But the damage done by the Diamonds’ attack. 

That was real. 

The land around him was in flames, partly because of the volcano detonating once again, but partly because of the gem ships that were beginning to crash. 

Not much time had passed in reality compared to his dream. 

Which meant-

He heard groaning. 

_Ammolite._

Baldur turned sharply to see her writhing on the ground in pain. Her body had shifted into something horrible. Her blue gem body was starting to become distorted, and her arms began to morph into that of some kind of tentacled creature. 

He knelt down to face her and hold her head on his knees. She had caused a lot of pain to him and many other gems, with her means of torture and manipulating the battlefield to her favor. She was a tyrant. 

But she was the product of a greater tyrant. 

And she was in _pain_. 

“Hey, Ammolite, stay with me. You can beat this.”

Her eyes looked vacant, but she immediately recognized Baldur and looked confused. “How did you-?” She closed her eyes slightly and smiled. “Of course. Whatever Rose’s powers are, you’re still human. Of course it wouldn’t affect you.”

“What was that thing?!”

“I don’t know, but if it wiped out an entire army…it probably took our your Crystal Gem friends.” She laughed. But it was a painful, bitter laugh. “Pink Diamond has finally been avenged.”

Baldur just sighed. “Maybe so.”

Another part of Ammolite’s body mutated, and she began to panic as her body and voice distorted once more. “Look, I’ve done a lot of harm.”

Baldur scoffed. “You think?! You killed thousands of gems in our assault on the Gamma Kindergarten! You were _there_ when an entire village, _my_ village wiped out on the Gem Battlefield!”

“I know…and I don’t regret it. We are created to do our Diamond’s bidding and-”

“Sure you are created for their purpose. But as I have seen in the past thousand years…you have the capability to go beyond your programming. 

But you have to _wan_ t to in order to do it. You won’t get any forgiveness from me.”

“I’m glad.”

Baldur couldn’t help but be shocked. 

“I wanted to do whatever it takes to serve my Diamond. I don’t need forgiveness. And it wouldn’t suit you anyways.

What I do want…is an end.”

Now Baldur was really shocked. “Are you sure?”

The Ammolite nodded. “The pain…it’s too much. The Diamonds spread their pain and I can’t…take it anymore. Anything is better than what is about to happen so please… _kill_ me.”

Baldur sighed. Then he nodded. “Okay. I’ll…make it relatively quick and painless.”

He took out his sword and held it over the Ammolite’s gem until he paused. He saw the mask by his side. 

But then he smiled lightly, despite it all. He picked it up and placed over the gem, on the Ammolite’s belly. Ammolite smirked. “Seriously?”

Baldur grinned, despite his eyes being distorted, and face being covered in scars and bruises. “Well, I can’t exactly give you a traditional funeral, so this will have to do.”

He held the sword back over her and thought about saying a prayer…but he couldn’t. He has had to use too many prayers for too many of his people. 

No more. 

So he…sort of created his own. 

“ _I know not what the coming fire may bring, from the depths of Muspelheim, Helheim, or our own souls._

_I know not of the dire fates our kind may face as we approach the trials that will no doubt define us._

_I know not of the ire, the rage we may need to finally achieve resolution._

_I know only of the spire, and the man atop it, standing at the edge of oblivion. The fires of Ragnarok rage past him, but he stands unshaken, unmoved, chanting simply:_

_‘ **My brothers and sisters, as hellfire rages past us, hear me. We may never hear the songs and rallies on Valhalla this day. Our sacrifices and prayers may go unanswered, but I hear them. There are no gods to carry us to our homes, to protect our people, and to give us justice. But I am. I am the chain that binds us all, the indestructible wire that shall bring us all to salvation. From here on, the will of all nine realms lives in me. And I shall free us of the tyranny of the Gods.’**_

_I know not of what comes tomorrow._

_I know only that this man on the spire shall avenge us.”_

And he plunged the sword right into the chest of the Ammolite, piercing the mask, and her gem. 

She let out once last breath and grinned. “Nice poem…the Selenites of Homeworld would be impressed...

I hope you’re right about the man on the spire.”

And as her form finally dissipated into shards, his mask falling neatly on top of it, he smiled. “I know I am.”

Baldur stood up from the ground and he placed the sword in a back mechanism he had helped craft. Fire raged around him, and he realized the bandages on his arm were slightly unkempt. Not broken or burned, they were made from a powerful gem fabric…

That he stole from Rose’s quarters. 

Not like she’d be mad. 

He started to rewrap the bandages as he heard a wind sweep through his body, and a darkness began to emerge once again. 

A light began to shine from his brand as he scowled. 

“Leave me alone.”

The vision came back and he saw the Crystal Gems and their monster in front of him. He knew they weren’t real, but he indulged his demented nightmares for a bit. 

Rose grinned. “You think you can ever escape us-?”

“I can, and I will.”

Garnet stepped forward with her gauntlets raised, cause of course they were. “What will you do without us? You have nowhere to go, no friends to fall back on, nothing.”

“Wrong. Rose brought back an army of soldiers…with the best of intentions. We may have forgotten those intentions, but I intend to pay it forward, and stick with them, always.”

Pearl sighed. “But Baldur, the rebellion is over!”

“Looks like you didn’t hear my poem.”

He turned to the apparitions with a glare in his eyes. But more than that, his eyes were a pure red, with a rot of white, blue, pink, and yellow threatening to overtake it. But it never could. It never would. 

“You may all be gone, but I am still here. You may have given up on the rebellion, and so has Homeworld, but someone has got to make sure they never harm this planet ever ever again. And if you won’t do whatever it takes to protect it, then I will. So in other words…

“The legends. The stories. The tales and myths. It all lives in me now. The _rebellion_ lives in me now.”

“Face it.” Now Rose was speaking, great, at least he was nearly done wrapping the bandages. “You need us. You needed us your whole life and now you are not-”

“No.” Baldur stared back with determination, finally done with his bandages. “You never defined my value. You came to my home and asked me to join your crusade, and I did, because it was the right thing to do. But then I lost everything I ever loved. But yet…I lived. My family didn’t. Because of your war, and your crimes. And now more people out there are dying and suffering because of you. My value isn’t your value. My name is Baldur Odinson. And I am my own person. 

But besides. You aren’t Rose. Just a figment of whatever nonsense the Diamonds are trying to mess with my head.

It may break the gems. 

But you will _not break **me**_.”

He drew his sword and slammed it against the ground with a large thud, causing the smoke and ash to disperse. The light began to shimmer and the embers began to burn as Baldur growled. 

“There will come a time where I will tear down the Diamond’s rein. I will destroy it from the inside out, and ruin them, as they ruined us. No I won’t kill them. I will kill the horrible gems who try to hold on to the old ways, who linger on to their rule. So that no one will come after us like today. I will end their rein of terror, and I will do it right. I will avenge us. And you will have to kill me, because you know full well, no one else can do it. 

Do you hear me Rose?!

You’ll have to kill me to undo your mistake, your crime. Bringing me back from the dead when you couldn’t save my family. Bringing back so many who had just lost their families. Ruining them without even knowing it. The road to Hel is paved with ‘good intentions’, right? **AND EITHER I WILL TAKE YOU THERE, OR YOU WILL TAKE ME THERE.**

**BECAUSE THIS BEGINS AND ENDS WITH YOU AND ME ROSE**!”

He raised his sword and slammed it through the apparitions, dispersing them, as he ran into the smoke and flame. Into the darkness. 

He had a destination in mind: home. 

Which means he needed to go to that waterfall. 

As he ran across the frozen ash and soil, he saw the gem ships escape the atmosphere, but some unlucky strays crash around him. 

He saw the suffering and the writhing on the floor around him, and while his heart ached for them, Baldur could do nothing right now. He could feel nature start to rage out in anguish at the invasive blast ruining it’s land. The volcanoes, rockslides, the earthquakes, and wait…

On the horizon, he saw his destination but he saw something rising. 

Water. 

_Was that a tsunami?!_

A memory came to him viciously, of a time where he showed the gems the celebrations in his village, and they were acting out a scenario of a tsunami overrunning a town. 

They chanted the same word over and over again. 

“Ødelegge.”

“Destroy.”

He ran towards the water, because that was the only place he could go for safety. The only way to get home. 

He ran as fast as he could, past the fires, the screaming and anguish all around him. The chant repeated in his head.

“Ødelegge.”

“Ødelegge.”

“Ødelegge.”

But he stopped when he saw the giant cliff, a cliff that stopped his path dead. He would not be able to get home without it. 

He was scared. Terrified. But this was his only way out. The only way to salvation. To save the people he loved, to start the path of reparation. 

He had to do this. 

To be free of the gems, of his identity as The Terran. 

So that he can become who he was meant to be. 

_The man on the spire._

And as the water began to swarm in all around him

He jumped.

* * *

Steven woke with a start, coughing viciously as he had to readjust to his surroundings. Immediately he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Isaac trying to give him water. 

“Hey hey, easy, easyyyy. Take some deep breaths and drink this. That dream seemed intense, and you’re sweating big time. You’re dehydrated and need to drink.”

Slowly, Steven took sips of the water, and started to come back to his senses…and then he soon realized everything was wrong.

He was tied around a chair, a very lousy(yet comfortable) office chair. Steven tried to break out but…he couldn’t.

He _couldn’t._

Steven looked down and saw that his gem had dimmed. And then he looked up at Isaac and saw that he had this gauntlet on his hand that was…

Glowing pink.

So Isaac talking earlier, what he had heard...it wasn't a dream?

“What did you do?! Where am I?!”

Isaac smiled. “I sapped your powers for a bit. This gauntlet stores them forever, you lose them for…a few hours, thanks to my modifications. As for where we are…” He _grinned_. “I think you’re going to like this.”

He walked up to a center console that had been repaired…

No way.

No no no no way.

Isaac pressed a button that revealed…space. Endless, infinite, cold space. But what attracted Steven’s attention was his planet. The Earth. A tear threatened to burst from both the stress of the dream and the sight.

“We really _are_ on the moon base…”

Isaac nodded. “Indeed. It took me years to repair this abandoned hunk of junk, and it took a lot of undercover operations so no one would suspect but…I think it was worth it. I can see why Lapis used it to relax.”

His look turned more soft. “I imagine you have dozens, maybe thousands of questions. And I’d like to answer them. All of them. I’ve got time.”

Steven looked shocked. “W-why?”

Isaac turned to Steven, and he looked thoughtful for a second. But then he sighed with a content expression. 

“Perhaps…because you already saw two of the worst days of my life. And I…figured it’s only fair that…

Steven. You saved us all from the brink. If there are three things you deserve, it’s happiness, resolution…and answers. Explanations for the crimes of a past you should never have been involved in. 

I can’t help with the first two. 

But I can try my best with answers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy new chapter!   
> Not much to say about this one, only that it serves as a part 2 of the last chapter. Lots of inspirations for this chapter. The game Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice inspired the "Ødelegge" sequence. I also really liked the idea that the Corruption Song had very real legitimate effects on the Earth at the time. It probably affected a lot of humans too, which will be explored in the next chapter. I liked the idea of the Song being essentially, the worst and most evil and powerful weapon the Diamonds had at their disposal. I can only wonder what kind of effect the song would have had if Pink was there too.   
> Sheesh. 
> 
> (Very random side note too, Selenites on Homeworld I envisioned as poets. Their stories would light up the Golden Age of Homeworld...if you can't tell, I love worldbuilding.)
> 
> But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you did, please leave a comment on this chapter(or the last chapter, pls)  
> See you guys soon for my favorite chapter so far!


	12. Isaac

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isaac Sterling explains everything.

“Not on the Gem Battlefield.”

“Pearl, why did you think he’d be here?”

Pearl sighed, standing in the middle of the giant open desolate battlefield. “We fought here once. This is where…it all went wrong. If there was any place he’d go to in order to grab Steven, it’d be here.”

Lars took a deep breath while Connie was still pacing. Lars immediately noticed and looked like he was about to tackle her.

Connie finally snapped. “Okay, this is ridiculous. Steven has been kidnapped by my commanding officer, who by the way, is a former crystal gem, and he could be anywhere!”

Lars facepalmed, unable to tackle her. “Oh god.”

Pearl didn’t even have a retort. Deep down, she was starting to get really frustrated as well. 

Connie growled. “Is this what Steven feels? The pain he feels having to deal with Rose’s mistakes?! And now Baldur has taken him because of your fucking mistakes, you ass-”

Lars’ eyes went wide when he saw something. “Connie, wait a second.”

She stopped her rant, but looked like she wanted to throttle him. “ **WHAT?!** ”

He pointed to the sight on the ground and the other two gasped at the sight. 

It was a small, minuscule puddle of blood. 

Lars held his head on his chin. “Isaac was here. We may not be able to track where he found him but…if we can go off of his word…

Then it won’t be long before we see Steven again.”

Suddenly, Pearl’s phone rung. Connie’s eyes went wide. “Who’d be calling you at this time?”

Pearl took out her phone and looked at it, puzzled. “…This is…odd.” She answered the phone. “Peridot?”

Now both Connie and Lars looked confused. “Put it on speaker phone.”

Pearl nodded, and held the phone out. “You’re on speaker Peridot.”

“I am? 

Good. Cause we just found something really weird.”

Lars raised an eyebrow. “How weird?”

“Like seismic activity under the Earth weird.”

“…”

All three looked at each other with wide eyes and at the same time said-

“We’re on our way.”

* * *

  
“Who are you?”

Isaac took a deep breath as he faced towards Steven in that Diamond chair. (It felt nice not to be sitting in it for once). 

“Isaac Sterling, I didn’t lie to you about that. Full name is Isaac ‘Baldur’ Sterling, I suppose, but I’d prefer it if you call me Isaac.”

“Baldur Odinson was your old name?”

“Yes.”

“So…Odin was your father?”

“Yes, that is why I am called _Odinson_.”

“Like Odin from mythology? How much of the mythology is real?”

“Ehhhh, bits and pieces.”

Steven gaped. “Wait, what?!”

Isaac grinned. “Wow, I didn’t know you liked mythology so much.”

Star eyes.

Uh oh.

“Connie got me hooked, now tell me more!”

“The names are real enough. Thor, Odin, Magni, Modi, Frigg, Surtr, Hel, Heimdall, so many! Oh, and me, Baldur. Some of the legends themselves however were based on the activities of gems"

"There was once a gem who defected from Yellow’s rule. A pyrite who could wield lightning. On the lone planet of Exodus 9, there were entire races of gems who could wield lightning, and oh, they crafted such marvelous things. Tools and machinery that would have changed our world thousands of years ago! Their forges gave birth to so many gems of so many different kinds! And through their forges, a warrior was born. Pyrite, Facet 2L4S Cut 6XC, from the Lambda Kindergarten.

Before she was sent to Earth, her hammer helped craft many inventions and tools of destruction for the sake of the Diamonds, after Homeworld took over their home. But Yellow Diamond saw a warrior in her, so she sent her to Earth to help dispatch the Crystal Gems. But after coming face to face with Rose Quartz and seeing the beauty of this planet, she soon joined their ranks as a hero. 

She was one of the fiercest warriors I had ever known, dispatching _leagues_ of gem soldiers with but a swipe of her hammer. She helped us take the Prime Kindergarten once and for all, and played a big role in some of the battles on the Sky Arena. But above all, she was a great friend. One of my best in fact. She asked me what I would call her based on my culture, and I said she would be one of the valkyrie. But her powers…oh those were of the God Thor! Oh, but her hammer. When I first saw it, I knew immediately it’s name. Mjol-“

“ **MJOLNIR RIGHT?! THAT’S WHAT YOU CALLED IT?!** ”

Isaac lost it. He just started laughing right there on the spot, and once Steven realized how into the story he had gotten, he laughed too. 

Strangely, Steven didn’t feel much like a prisoner. 

Once he calmed down, Steven immediately tried to get back to it. “Okay okay okay, so what ever happened to Pyrite?”

At that Isaac froze.

Oh no. 

He put his hand on the bandages on his left shoulder and sighed. “She…was one of the ones who died at the Gem Battlefield. There was no ceremony. No honorable death. One explosion-” He snapped his fingers. “And she was gone. There were no shards left to bury her with. Just her hammer…which was taken, by Homeworld, and placed deep, within a weapon of mass destruction. Another shard in the thousands I saw that day.”

He sighed. “That’s just one example of how the mythologies are real. I tried to abridge them together between reality and fiction when I started telling the tales in the few hundred years before BCE ended. The reality of gems who did their best to save people’s lives mixed with a fiction of what kind of monsters they fought…which wasn’t always fiction. Of course, some of it got lost in translation, but hey, what can you do?” He grinned. “Made for some really cool comics though.”

Steven didn’t even register the implication that Isaac helped to craft the Norse Mythology itself. He was still lingering on Pyrite’s death.

“I…I am so sorry.”

Isaac scoffed. “Don’t worry about it, it’s literally ancient history. Nothing you could’ve done…it’s not like you were there. Still though…” He sighed. “I just wish people would tell the stories of the thousands of heroes that fought with us.” Isaac clenched his fists and his expression turned bitter. 

“Instead, all they ever talked about was _Rose_. Precious, _perfect_ Rose.”

Steven looked stunned. That bitter tone.

Good god, maybe this guy was his brother. That amount of bitterness towards Rose, at times, not even Spinel was that bitter.

He couldn’t think about this right now, he had to get back on track.

“Okay, what the hell was that dream?”

Isaac looked up with slightly wide eyes. Then he nodded, a new fire lit in those eyes. “So you no doubt know of the corruption song. How many lives it hurt, the people It damaged, the things it ruined, _everything_!

I…I was there. I experienced it. I lived it.”

Steven gaped. “What…what was it like?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been there yourself, haven’t you? I imagine that dream must’ve dug up some bad memories. You tell me.”

Steven narrowed his eyes. “No offense, but this isn’t about me. And I already have a therapist.”

Isaac scoffed. “Well, good on you. Seriously.” He stood up with a light smile and started tinkering with the machinery. “Sure did sound like you needed one.”

“How do you know my mental traumas?”

Isaac flashed a grin. “Let’s just say that your cactus buddy talks too much.”

A pause. 

“You’ve got to be _fucking_ kidding.”

“Language!”

“ **YOU CURSED IN YOUR THOUGHTS TOO!** ”

Isaac laughed. “Fair, I guess.”

Steven looked angry though. “Dammit! After all these years that cactus still won’t stop talking about me! Even though when I saw him last, he seemed nicer! He still won’t stop…talking about my shortcomings.”

Isaac sat back down after his machinations, with a sad look in his eyes. “Look, we all make mistakes man. Don’t sweat it. I ran into that cactus a few years ago, so, it seems like things are getting better. I tried to send him off with some good words of wisdom, and I think it worked.”

“Wait.” Steven’s eyes went wide. “Are you the reason the cactus came back, spouting nonsense like ‘You’re doing good Steven.’ And ‘You should be proud of your progress,’ among other things?”

Isaac shrugged with an enigmatic grin. 

Steven blushed. “Ah.” But then he scowled again. “You never answered my question about your corruption.”

“Well forgive me if it’s a sore subject that takes time to formulate an answer too!” Isaac shouted. “You saw the damn dream, you went inside my head _again_ without me wanting you too. You of all people should know what I saw in there.”

Steven reeled back and suddenly looked guilty. “I…I’m so-”

But Isaac perked up. “Don’t worry about it. I guess…I have to confront these feelings at some point, right?”

He took a deep breath in. “It shouldn’t have affected me, because I was human. But it did. Because of Rose’s curse. It still affected a lot of humans. Bright lights that made some have trouble sleeping, and drove others mad. For me…at the time the light hit, Ammolite detonated her chronal blast and…it was like a nightmare. “

Steven looked curious. “Was that why I heard whisperings from the future and the past? From stuff you could never have known and why I saw…that creature?”

Isaac looked up with a dark look in his eyes. “I had a feeling it was more than just a worm.”

Steven shared that dark look as Isaac continued. “Yeah, that’s why you heard things. I admit, it baffled me then but now…I guess it makes sense. But it was like…” He glanced at the space behind him and sighed. “It’s like I was in a void. An endless darkness without comprehension. I…” Some tears filled his eyes. “I still wear the scars. I mean, you’ve seen my eyes.”

He pointed at them. “On the outside, they look like a Rorschach test with no directive. But if you look closer…There are pink, yellow, blue, and white veins that flow and ooze, like a rot. My eyes were always red so it because a bit more…bold. I guess.”

Steven looked concerned. “Does it hurt?”

“It used to. Not anymore.” Isaac looked up with a…odd look. “Got any other questions Universe?”

Steven scowled slightly. “Where have you been for 5500 years? Why choose now to come out of hiding?”

Isaac smiled bashfully. “If…I am being honest, I haven’t exactly been in hiding. I’ve been very much out of the open for the past thousands of years.

After the corruption hit, I tried helping humans out that were injured or traumatized by the song. I also found the gems that were corrupted and…I put them out of their misery.”

Steven’s eyes went wide. “You _killed_ them?! _Why_?!”

And Isaac scowled for the first time that day. “ _Not all of us can wait for a cure Steven._ ” Steven was shocked by his dark tone as he continued. “They were in pain and agony and they were suffering. I wasn’t about to wait 5000 years for a cure I had no guarantee would come. And I couldn’t bubble them either. So I…did the only thing I could.

From there, I just…did whatever I could. I would occasionally join a war to see if I could help out. Help with reparations around the world…and travel. Traveling was nice.

Before I heard of your little secret, I intended to move on from Rose. From my so called promise. Sure, the rebellion lived in me, but it didn’t need to. I tried joining the causes of gem security forces that would try to go against any Era 2 loyalists. That’s where I met Connie. She was a hell of a soldier, in case you cared.”

Steven couldn’t help the light smile as Isaac continued. “What else…” Isaac had a prideful smile come onto his face. “Oh hey, I run a Corruption Victims Anonymous group!”

Steven’s eyes went wide. “R-really? How?”

“I run it through encrypted channels through Little Homeschool. Anyone whose been hurt by corruption, we just sit together, either through digital calls or in person meeting, and we just…talk. About what corruption felt like.”

Steven dipped his head, slightly downtrodden. “How…how did I not know about this? My former students getting help and I never…”

Isaac leaned forward. “You didn’t know because I didn’t want you to. Steven, when you were a literal teenager, you had the weight of the whole goddamn world on your shoulders. The last thing you needed to know was that there was an Anti-Gem Extremist Group, and a founding member of the Crystal Gems who wants to end the conflict before it starts. For five thousand years, I’ve been protecting you and your family from the sidelines. I set up a furniture store, spent years helping around Beach City and rebuilding wreckages, fighting wars and protecting your city from the darkest depths of Homeworld’s forces. Did Pearl seriously think that Peridot was the first in four thousand years to try and come to Earth? 

Well, good. She never should have known of the hundreds of gems who tried to finish the job.”

Steven gaped. “Why-”

Isaac cut him off with a small grin. “Why a furniture shop? I am a hell of a builder, and I make some meannnn furniture!”

“No!” A pause. “Though that is kind of cool. Why go to so much effort to protect us?! If the Crystal Gems…if my family left you for dead, why try to protect us? Why not just leave us for dead? You had a ship, a big one too! Why not just…leave the Earth behind?”

Now it was Isaac’s turn to look shocked. “You know Steven, I expected a thousand different types of questions. That was…definitely unexpected. I’ve thought about that question for thousands of years. 

This planet…I’ve lost everything here, but it’s been good to me. My home…my family. And even the gems. They were good. Kind. And I was better because of them. I have seen humanity at its worse, sure. But I’ve seen it at its best. And when I saw you all those years ago, I knew we were in good hands. 

The gems left me for dead. They tried to _kill_ me. And they ruined my life. But as I put together…Rose’s faults come from Pink. And her faults came from the Diamonds. It’s a cycle of pain, that we are the pawns in. The Earth has been the playing field for the Diamonds’ problems for a _longggg_ time. And I refuse to let it happen again. 

The plan was simple. After the corruption passed, I would protect the planet from the sidelines. And by extension, the Crystal Gems, who I soon found out were alive. Regardless of what they did, at one point, they were still my friends. Originally the plan was to ensure the safety of purely the planet. 

But then I met you and realized I should try to protect you as best as I could. 

Because I just…had a hunch that you would be the one to end the cycle of anger and pain. And you _did_.”

Steven looked both prideful and downtrodden. “…Look where that got me. My self worth tanked and now there’s you.”

Isaac’s eyes went wide. “You…You still think that you’re responsible for Rose’s crimes? After all this time? After corruption, after you left _home_ , left it all behind, you still think that-”

He stopped himself short and took a deep breath. “Steven. You are not your mother. You have never been your mother. And you will never be her. Pink Diamond was a brat who broke everything she touched. Rose Quartz was a leader, a leader who inspired a revolution, but made a lot of mistakes that ended the revolution, and the lives of many. Mine included.

But you. You did more than just save the galaxy. You were a _good_. _Friend_. And a good person. Do you ever wonder why Pearl shapeshifted for the first time in thousand of years because of Steven Tag? Why Amethyst was able to become a true leader and advocate for gems? Why Garnet got _married_?! Why Connie came out of her shell, why Greg became more involved with gem business, why Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth not only redeemed themselves, but now love you? How the three greatest tyrants and the most hurt gem in the galaxy are now docile? 

It’s because of you. It’s always been you. You changed the galaxy and the people in it for the better. And it took a toll on your mental health, for sure. But you managed to both help yourself and this galaxy.

When you left Beach City after being corrupted…I just knew that…you deserved a moment. I wish sometimes that I’d been there for you but…you never needed me. But just in case, I kept my distance. 

When Greg was abducted, and then you were abducted, I stayed close. Watching from the sidelines. I watched Yellow’s…weird song. I saw that rigged Trial, which…really threw me for a loop. I was there when you attempted to change White's mind and was literally moments away from interfering...but you had it covered. I’ve done everything in my power to protect you from the sidelines because I thought you could break that cycle of pain. And you did. 

I’m not like Lapis, Jasper, Peridot, the Diamonds, Spinel, any of them! I never _wanted_ to kill you. 

I just wanted to _help_.”

Steven was shocked. But then he scowled. “That makes no sense! None of this makes any sense! How could you not want to kill me?”

“Wow, you really do need therapy.”

“Why did you beat me and Connie to a pulp?”

“Because you tried to _stab_ me! …But I still regret that and I’m sorry.”

“How could you not want to hurt me? My mom took everything from you!”

Isaac facepalmed. “Oh for christ’s sake, _you’re not **her**!_ The mistakes of your mother are not your own, you need to get past that.”

Steven was on the verge of tears now. His chest was tight because he was so confused and conflicted. “Why…why are you saying all of this?”

Isaac stood up and pointed right at Steven’s chest with a fierce expression. “Because what happened to you happened to me. Tossed aside by Rose, Pink, whatever, for no reason. And forced to make sense of a world in which we were outcasts. That’s why I call you brother. You may not be my blood. 

But the way I see it, we are cut from the same cloth.”

Isaac sat back down and his expression turned softer. “…Now what else you got Steven?”

“How…How did you make that jump? Over the cliff?”

Isaac flashed a knowing grin. “Oh, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Steven narrowed his eyes once more. “Try me.”

Isaac grinned and stood up. “Keep an eye on that window.”

He walked down the stairs, and away from Steven. 

And Steven…immediately tried to break out of the ropes. But he couldn’t budge. Connie may have taught him escapist tactics, but it doesn’t help against his magic being sapped, and clearly abnormal ropes. 

His powers were still sapped. What was that gauntlet? There should be no more gem weapons around, how did Isaac have both a magic gauntlet, and a destabilizer! And more than that-

Wait. 

Oh my god, was that Isaac out there?

He was running at incomprehensible speeds, and made a large leap and suddenly, he had cleared a giant quarry! Like it was nothing! He had only seen gems perform those feats of accuracy!

This was new. 

Very new. 

He kept leaping and jumping around the moon, moving faster than imaginable. And now Steven found himself even more confused if those times Isaac moved like a blur, was that his teleportation or his natural speed?

Soon, he stopped dead. He then took out his sword, and raised it to the sky with a howling scream. Steven may not have heard it. But he felt it. The anger and rage, it oozed from him like a shockwave. His giant buster like sword split open like a tuning fork, and a light emerged from the split in his sword. The light blinded him and soon his scream reached a breaking point, and he slammed his sword into the surface of the moon. He started running in a circle, creating a giant crater as embers began to rise and die out in an instant. 

Once the crater was opened, he opened up a portal under it and suddenly, Steven jumped and realized that a dozen weapons had fallen behind him. 

He looked forward and saw that Isaac had dropped in. “Before Era 3 truly began, many Homeworld acolytes and loyalists stored their weapons in secure places. Some were found by Jets, the security guards the new Diamond Authority sent to confiscate the gem weaponry. But some were never discovered. The moon was just one of the hotspots for gem tech to be stored.”

Steven’s eyes were wide. “How did you…do that?”

Isaac shrugged. “I’ve just always had a naturally good agility. No big deal.”

“You can breathe in space?! What about your lungs?!”

“My lungs were basically destroyed when I first became pink. No biggie.”

“And that sword?!”

Isaac raised an eyebrow and then his eyes went wide. “Oh, this thing?” He pulled out his sword and it once again glowed and shimmered with an eerie white and orange light. “Bismuth made this thousands of years ago. After the battle at Gamma, Bismuth joined the cause and she created weapons for all of us. She even made one for me. Bismuth wanted me to help which…blew me away to say the least. I taught her what I knew on runic language and we created this one together! 

We captured White Diamond’s light from the Kindergarten and harnessed it for the sword. Combined with the lava, it created a violent reaction. And so, a flaming sword with a blinding light. We called it Hofund. The sword of Heimdall, keeper of Asgard…

Though I suppose it could also fit Surtr’s flaming sword, destined to destroy Asgard. Though he never really had a name for his sword.” His excited look flickered for a second. “…After a…certain battle, I requested Bismuth gave me these hooks to put in my arm that would...” He threw the giant sword down the stairway. It made a large clang noise as it hit the ground. And then, Isaac held out his hand, and suddenly Steven heard a woosh and the sword flew back into his hands. “Allow me to recall the weapon at will. The device hurts like hell…but I’m used to the pain.”

His grin came back. “Regardless, it’s a hell of a blade.” 

He walked up to the console and started inputting commends, and soon an image of a gauntlet came up. Then he went over to the weapons on the ground and started shoveling them into his head. “These weapons were going to be used for malicious intent. A deep and insidious conspiracy to wipe out Little Homeschool. Not sure about the specifics but…I think Bluebird was in on it?”

Steven scoffed. “Figures.” Then he looked concerned. “Wait, have you killed Bluebird?!”

Isaac stopped dead. Then he turned on his heel with a wide grin. “Perhaps.”

Steven immediately went pale and Isaac…

_Laughed_?

He started laughing and laughing. “Oh man, you should have seen your face! You looked so terrified and believed that I killed that pest! Oh that was so good! I should’ve recorded that shit-!”

Steven groaned loudly, but a very silent part of him couldn’t help but be slightly amused. “Oh ha ha, I get it, I’m gullible, what’s your point?”

Isaac wiped his tears and scoffed. “I don’t know about that, you at least never doubted that Bluebird would betray you.” He sighed. “Regardless, I haven’t killed her yet. I’ve been focusing on big strikes, not individual assassinations. Not my style. 

Chances are I may not get the chance to kill her. But who knows what the coming days will bring?”

Steven somehow felt both relieved and terrified as he continued. “Anyways, if this Era 3 Rebellion hadn’t taken it, the Anti-Gems would have taken it. Simple as that. So I did. I took it…for my own purposes.”

He pointed at the monitor. “Take this device for example. The wizards on Homeworld called it the Nth Gauntlet…Homeworld always had weird names for everything. This was made to sap the powers of gems and redirect it. For the gems in question, they usually lose their powers forever, but thanks to my modifications, you’ll lose it for about an hour or two. But I get to keep this…forever.”

He looked up with a bashful smile. “Okay, that sounded really ominous, but just bear with me here.” He looked back to the monitor. “There’s a whole universe of these weapons that were designed for harm. Designed for domination. I intend to use these…for something different. I’ve spent years recovering stolen tech, all for this.”

Steven narrowed his eyes. “All of this tech. All of these weapons. Your intentions with them aren’t exactly pure hearted are they?”

Isaac stopped his tinkering and looked at Steven. “No. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned being involved in gem affairs for five thousand years. 

There is no such thing as _pure_ intentions. 

You were the first to do something purely good and well…

We all have our breaking points right, Steven?”

Steven leaned forward and scowled. “What exactly are you planning? You haven’t _really_ been clear.”

“…I haven’t?” Isaac had a slightly mocking smile. “I could’ve sworn my monologues would have given it away.”

“Yeah, well, you speak in tongues damn it!” 

“Whaaaaat?! That’s craaaaaaz-”

“ **GET TO THE POINT DAMMIT!** ”

Isaac chuckled. “Fine, fine, forgive me for prolonging the inevitable.”

He looked at Steven dead in the eyes, as his own turned serious. “You heard my nonsense about the cycle of violence, and ending it with more violence. Well, as redundant and counter intuitive as it sounds, I meant it. 

Y’see, thousands of years ago, the Diamonds and their underlings created weapons of mass destruction to ruin and destroy our planet. All for revenge against a assassination that was a lie! Before I knew that Rose lied to us, used us, I intended to just settle down and move on. 

But after I learned of her _treachery_ …well, I wondered just how deep Pink Diamond’s crimes went. So I spent fifteen years, digging for information. I found out about Spinel, what truly happened to Pink Pearl, which of course, you found out.” He leaned in close to Steven with a giant grin. “But I knew something you didn’t.”

Steven growled and turned pink for a fraction of a second before it fizzled out once more. “Not this again.”

“Pink Diamond was smart. Her insistence of getting a colony was born out of a place of pride and a desperation to prove herself. But the lengths she took. Ohhhh the lengths she took. Before she broke Pink Pearl, she spent years developing weapons of mass destruction. Powerful, insidious weapons, meant to destroy entire worlds. Volleyball said it herself: she had a scream that could shatter the walls. So what would happen if that kind of power was weaponized?” 

He pulled up a picture on the monitor, and it showed the destructive power of the device. It looked like a missile, and it was capable of doing more than just wiping out a city, it could wipe out…the entire planet! 

Even Isaac looked shaken. “Even toned down, these weapons could exact grave destruction. And they did. In order to get in Yellow Diamond’s good graces, these weapons, and more, were used to colonize and wipe out any opposing colonies. These things were even used to clear space for the kindergartens. How do you think Spinel was able to, so quickly, gather the means to destroy the entire planet? Because it was _in_ the garden. There were weapons of mass destruction _right there in her **garden**_ **!** So-”

Steven shouted, “FINE, I GET IT, MY MOM’S A PIECE OF SHIT. WHAT’S THE DAMN POINT?!” 

Isaac shot right back. “The point is these weapons ruined the lives of so many! The people I’ve loved, the people that have meant the world to me, have all died because of her! Because of the Diamonds and their hubris! 

So these weapons. No, all of the weapons the Diamonds have created for mass destruction. I’ll use them.

To _destroy_ the Diamonds. 

I’ve got it all figured out. In just about a week, the Diamonds will be on Exodus 9 to negotiate the destruction of the last remaining weapons on the colony. The colonists there are still…unhappy after the Diamonds dominated them. I imagine they would be all too eager to join a resistance force.

Use their devices of destruction and reckoning to end them once and for all. Originally, I didn’t want to kill them, but that was before I found out that Rose Quartz started the war based on a _lie_! Maybe Yellow and Blue have changed, fine, sure. 

But are you really about to tell me with a straight face that White has changed?

She abused Pink Diamond for _millennia_! She even abused you for a bit! She tore out your _fucking_ gem, and there have been no consequences? No atonement? Nothing? 

You can’t tell me it doesn’t haunt you sometimes. It doesn’t keep you up at night knowing what she can do? What they can do? Or better yet, what they _have_ done?”

Steven scowled. “You’re going to start another _war_? For what? Revenge?”

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. “I…Have you not listened to a word I’ve said? **I’M NOT STARTING A WAR DAMMIT! I’M ENDING ONE!** ”

The war never ended Steven, all of us are still here, suffering. There is a whole universe of people who suffered by Pink’s hands. By the Diamond’s hands. The rot they created has spread and _infested_ its way into all of us.” He threw his hands up. “It’s spread to Garnet, and her endless concern about the truth. About people lying to her?

You tried to keep a secret for a literal hour and she got upset. And every time, she quite literally breaks apart!

Oh and Amethyst. It has infested into her as well! And she is so desperate to prove her worth by any means necessary to the point it has corroded into her self image. 

Do I even need to tell you how it’s corrupted Pearl?”

Steven started to growl and rock his chair. “Stop. It.”

But Isaac didn’t stop. “She’s moved on sure. But she said it herself, she’s still hurting. And after what Rose did, brother, I don’t think she’ll ever stop hurting.”

Steven’s powers finally started to come back to him as he felt his anger begin to flare up. “Do _not_ call me brother.”

Isaac grinned. “And look at you. You aren’t your mother. You aren’t her crimes, her mistakes, her weaknesses, or the rot that she spread. But you’ve been corrupted just the same as all of us. I mean where do I even begin? 

You’ve had self loathing issues all your life, had to put the weight of your entire family’s problems on your shoulder, oh wait, I’m sorry, the weight of the _galaxy_. You’ve had no time to deal with your own problems, and the only ones who cared your issues had their own things going on. You had to deal with people wanting revenge against you because of things you didn’t even do! All because of a gem that isn’t even yours!

Hell, you want to make it even more obvious? You literally _turn pink when angry_.” 

Steven was now violently shaking as he desperately tried to break free from his bonds. 

“And you think it ends here? You think that people will stop just because you’ve declared peace? Because you’ve proved you aren’t your mom? No. _No_. The pain the Diamonds have caused us is eternal. Forever eternal. They took everything from us Steven, everything! And the only way we can break that pain…is to destroy it. Once and for all.”

Steven finally broke out of his chair and charged Isaac. “ **I WON’T LET YOU DO THIS!** ”

But Isaac caught him with his sword and slammed him to the ground. Before he could get up, he sapped the powers right from his gem with the gauntlet, and he pointed the sword right at him.

But he didn’t look angry. No. Tears were starting to flow from his eyes. “And look at me. Steven. There is nothing left for me. This brand, my scars, my wounds.” He opened his jacket slightly and pointed right at his heart. Or, what appeared to be his heart. There was some eerie glowing light coming from it that did _not_ look human. 

“My heart isn’t even natural anymore. There’s no part of me that is my own anymore! I have nothing! No one! I lost it all because of her! And I can’t get it back. 

But I can stop it from ever happening again.”

Steven’s eyes were wide. “Why? Why are you doing this? You keep mentioning that you lost everything but…what happened?”

Isaac scoffed. “You have enough on your hands. I don’t want you to be my therapist. And why the hell would you want to listen to my story? Where does that get me in all this chaos, no one has ever been able to fix my problems, why would you be able to?!”

“I’m not asking to be your therapist!” Steven’s look softened. “Look, you seem hurt. Legitimately hurt. I can’t end your pain but…well, anything is better than what you’re planning. I just…want to help, and try to stop you from doing something I know you’ll regret. So at least let me try.

And at the very least…if you let me listen…

I will tell you the names of the songs in your dreams.”

Isaac’s eyes went wide. “You-Are you…” But then he groaned and chuckled. “Oh man, you are ridiculous. I can see how you have been able to redeem thousands of problematic gems. Fine.”

Isaac pointed the sword right at Steven’s temple. “But after I tie you up again, _I_ talk. And _you_ listen.” 

Steven nodded, scared for the first time since the attack. 

Then Isaac sighed. “I was born in the year 3300 BCE. Dawn of the century. My mom and dad always made a big deal about that. They said it meant I was…in good favor with the gods. I always believed them. Then when I was seventeen, I allied with some god like figures myself. By then my dad was already…out there. I fought with Rose for eleven years. I met with people like Bismuth, Pyrite, so many good friends and people. During that time, I had the idea to bring more people on board. Humans like me. I figured it would be good to show the gems what we were fighting for, and show humans what is out there. Rose thought it was a great idea. And it was. Warriors from across the world joined in and…well, we all hit it off great.”

Steven smiled softly, then frowned. “What happened?”

Isaac took a deep breath. His eyes seemed to go somewhere else, to another time entirely. “3272 BCE. It was a routine battle. The idea was to take a section of land that had been occupied by Homeworld for a while. But it was personal to me, cause it was right near my home. And my family was in the radius of the attack. Not too close but…not too far either. Rose was desperate to attack, said that something was there, something the gems possessed, that could be used for disaster. I was angry at first, because it seemed reckless. Dangerous. I didn’t find out till later, but the reason she was desperate was because those weapons that she created…they were there. 

Along with many. Other. Gems tied to Pink Diamond. Fighters, warriors that were fighting on her behalf. And because of her time as Pink Diamond, Rose knew that this spot…was about to be ground zero for a grave disaster. 

Instead of holding off or evacuating my people…she insisted we attack. And after a while, both Pearl and I agreed. It was personal after all, my family was at stake, and many gems would be at stake too. But we didn’t know what we were fighting for and thus, it was an ambush. So many gems and humans died. 

That was the battle of the Gem Battlefield. 

And that, Steven Universe-

-Is where I lost everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update, midterms just ended recently, and I didn't want to release this chapter until I finished the chapter that is next, because I have officially reached a point where instead of having written four or three chapters ahead of the one I release here, I am now just one chapter ahead. So, updating twice a week may be tricky now, so I may try just once a week.  
> Okay, another pretty long chapter, but it won't be as long as the next chapter, which is one of the last flashbacks, and the longest chapter so far.   
> This was a big one, and honestly one of my favorite chapters to write. It was a great opportunity to flesh out Isaac's character, explain his motivations, and give him a direct conflict with Steven. I really wanted Isaac to be an always present force in Steven's life, even if he didn't know it. He didn't interfere a lot of times, but he's kept watch for a while. His attitude may seem like a far cry from the last chapter, but the ending of that chapter should explain why he calmed down a bit.   
> Also side note, Isaac's just known about Steven's mental trauma for a while, the whole thing wasn't hard to piece together ever since he saw his confession to Blue and Yellow Diamond, but...Cactus Steven kind of just cemented that for him.   
> Another side note, I am going off the assumption that corruption happened, which I've already stated before but here's some more clarification: Steven corrupted, his right eye was left pink and slightly distorted, and he took a break from Beach City for a few years, four to be exact, two on his own, two with Connie. Isaac knew about it but didn't do anything which still haunts him.  
> Last little side note, this may already be clear, but Isaac/Baldur has a slew of mental health problems: PTSD, Anxiety, etc, mainly because of what has happened to him through the years.  
> This whole chapter was just really great to write, and I hope you guys enjoyed it! If you did please leave a comment, and I'll see you guys later!


	13. The Man on the Spire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.”  
> -The Joker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Torture, cursing, death  
> I hope you enjoy!

Red skies. Fire everywhere. Burning, screaming.

Panic. Baldur was panicking. ( _I was panicking Steven. It was…_ )

Chaos.

Pure, unadulterated chaos. Baldur had heard stories of war, tales from his father and his mother. Heard tales of battlefields filled with ashes and blood. “True war always had a color associated with it,” his father always said. “Be it gray or red skies, orange embers and fire, brown terrain…and the blood. Make no mistake. You know a war is upon you if your senses are bombarded, invaded, by everything around you.”

What had come before were skirmishes, focused attacks.

This was a _war_.

Baldur was behind cover, Hofund in his hand, and the double tipped sword at his waist. He was breathing heavily, as he tried to look over the hill he was behind.

There it was. A floating tower, a spire, looming over the battlefield. That was where the leaders of the attack would be.

They were supposed to take the field with ease, but it was an ambush. That tower had appeared out of nowhere and a whole army of soldiers. And at the head of the army seemed to be a Herkimer, a strange Quartz leader…

They had to stop this. _He_ had to stop this.

His family and everyone he cared about was on this battlefield, and on the sidelines. If they lost…it would mean the end of everything he loved.

He felt something slip into cover with him, and he nearly panicked, until he came face to face with Pearl. She looked determined and battle ready, the true image of a renegade. But behind it all, there was some exhaustion there too.

Pearl had wide eyes. “Baldur I…what are you doing here?”

As the world collapsed behind him, Baldur started panicking even more. “Pearl, where is my mother? My family? My _people_? Where are Rose, and Garnet, and Bismuth-”

Pearl put her hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, I just saw them. They are fighting out there, against the Herkimer’s forces. They’re safe.”

He scowled. “None of us are safe. Not until that tower is out of the sky.”

Pearl sighed. “It’s going to be hard to get up there with the amount of reinforcements guarding it. And they have gem destabilizers, Nth Gauntlets, gem tech that could ruin us all without batting an eye.”

At that moment, Baldur had an idea. “But I’m not a gem. I could get up there just fine, and bring the tower under our control! We could win!”

“It’s a big risk!” Pearl shouted. “How will you even get up there?”

He put a hand on his chin. “…You told me these towers were multi-purpose. They were terraformers, but also troop carriers. It even served as a mini-kindergarten. They used an internal mechanism to do it all…but it’s held together by gem machinery that would destabilize any other gems.

If I can find where they drop the troops, find the mechanism, I can take it straight to the tip of the spire.”

“And end the fight…” Pearl smiled. “This could work Baldur.”

Baldur mimicked that smile. “It could.” Then his look turned more determined. “I’m going to need all the help I can get though, even if I have to go up there by myself.”

And Pearl smirked. “Don’t worry. _You’ll have all the help you can get._ I’ll provide cover.”

Baldur grinned. “Okay. Alright, Pearl. Let’s do this.”

They both geared up and ducked just below the entrance of the cover. Baldur held his fingers up. “3!

“2!

“1!”

And both of them ran into the battlefield.

Immediately, it was like it came alive around them. The fires blazed higher as they saw a whole troop of gems begin to charge them. Citrine, Jaspers, Jades, everyone. It was an army. And they were everywhere.

Pearl looked to Baldur as they ran towards the danger. “I’m right behind you, keep going!”

Right then, Baldur heard a crack of lighting and saw a new blaze of fire erupt in front of him. He looked up with a smirk. “Pyrite!”

Pyrite was flying through the air, hammer in hand, blasting lightning at the ground and air forces to the best of her abilities. She looked down at Baldur with a grin. “Hey Baldy! Garnet told me your plan. It’s crazy, but it just might work. We’ll do our best to back you up!”

“…We?”

A Jasper attacked him from behind. He was knocked to the ground, and immediately felt the pain on his back. But before she could move any closer to deal a killing blow, she was stabbed from behind, and poofed instantly.

Her dissipation revealed Pearl and Rose Quartz, who quickly ran over to him. 

( _The events feel disjointed right? Because if I’m honest it…still feels like a blur._ )

“Baldur?! Are you okay?!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t back you up, I-”

Baldur groaned. “I’m _fine_. Just get me off the ground.”

Pearl helped lift him up, and Rose wiped a tear from her eye and swiped it over the giant scar that had pierced his armor. The cooling feeling soon filled Baldur, and he felt like he was back in action.

And then they saw an Onyx, flying high through the sky like a Valkyrie, set its sights on the group.

Baldur looked up with horrified eyes. “Everyone, hit the deck!”

Rose materialized her bubble and everyone hid inside it as the Onyx fired blasts of pure energy right at the shield.

Pearl grinned. “Hah! Nothing can break this bubble! When will they learn?”

Baldur saw it then.

The shadow. The same shadow from the Battle of Gamma.

It was in the distance and it was watching the shield.

He expected to see the white of a smile. He’d seen it so many times with “mysterious gems in the distance.”

But what he did see surprised him more.

A faint look of guilt. Remorse even.

And then the shadow vanished.

And in its place, a Howlite emerged and charged the shield, gauntlet wrapped around her arm. But it was something different. Something…very different.

( _In case you’re wondering Steven, the gauntlet was exactly what you think it was_ )

Howlite made it to the shield and lifted the gauntlet and punched the shield.

And it started to distort. Just slightly.

And everyone instantly went pale.

Baldur held his head in his hands and looked at Rose starting to struggle. “ **I THOUGHT YOU SAID NO ONE COULD BREAK YOUR BUBBLE.** ”

Pearl shouted. “It’s an Nth Gauntlet. It can absorb powers, just like I said!”

Rose scowled. “It can even-agh! Break this bubble!”

Baldur scowled. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

The Onyx pulled back for a second with a grin. “You pop their bubble, we finish the job together, deal?”

Howlite smirked. “Deal. Oh, you Crystal Scum are doomed. This shield will break, and when it does-”

Right then, Garnet and Pyrite charged in, the Pyrite swinging at the Onyx and making her fly away, and Garnet punching Howlite right in the jaw, causing her grip over the shield to end.

Baldur looked at Rose with a smirk. “Drop the bubble.”

Everyone drew their weapons and Rose dropped the bubble, charging back into the field. Baldur immediately swiped at Howlite’s gauntlet, sprawled on the ground, and destroyed it instantly.

Bismuth came charging in, and by then a fight was brewing between the Howlite and Garnet and Bismuth. Pyrite was dealing with the Onyx and Baldur was running with Rose and Pearl providing cover.

The three fighters shouted a “Good luck!” into the darkness that the other three just barely managed to hear.

Fire raged all around them. Horrible sounds in the distance, echoes of bloodshed and violence throughout the battlefield. It was terrifying. But there was no time to be terrified.

The plan was simple. Baldur tried to keep remembering it as he blasted beams of light at an Onyx, cut a Quartz in half, went toe to toe with a Jasper. The enemies began to blur together as the mission became the only priority. That tower was all that mattered, a deathly horn blaring from the top.

Baldur could _see_ that goddamn Herkimer at the top.

The world faded away as the mission became the only priority.

Until a scream brought him right back.

Baldur had been cutting into some kind of Hematite when he heard a scream. He looked to his left and saw...

Weimar.

And the blade of a Jet piercing his chest.

Baldur gaped at the sight, nearly collapsed at it, as Pearl tried to run in to help but…

It may have been too late.

He felt a panic brewing in his soul until Rose grabbed his shoulders tightly. She had a serious expression. “Baldur! You have to get to the tower! We don’t have time for this!

All of our lives depend on you!”

And for the first time.

Baldur felt rage. Pure, unadulterated rage towards Rose Quartz.

He pushed her back fiercely, anger deep in his heart and soul. “ **No. You listen to me**.

**I will get to that tower. I will finish this battle.**

**But if you don’t protect the people I love, it will not matter.** ”

Baldur grabbed Rose by the shoulder with a dark look. “ **DO YOU HEAR ME?! PROTECT MY FAMILY, MY PEOPLE WITH MY LIFE. AND I WILL PROTECT YOURS WITH MINE.** ”

Rose could do nothing but nod, as even Pearl, standing over Weimar’s body, looked at the two in shock.

Baldur sighed, feeling a bit more calm. “Good. I’ll make the rest of the journey alone. My people are out there dying. They aren’t like you, they can’t take multiple hits.

You have to make sure they live to see tomorrow, because there will be no rebellion if we all die.”

( _I didn’t know it yet, but Rose already had a contingency plan in mind._ )

Baldur ran into the darkness, back towards the tower…

Until a giant light emerged from the tower.

“ **BALDUR! LOOK OUT, THAT ATTACK IT’S-** ”

He didn’t hear her until it was too late.

It was a giant beam of pure energy that tore into the ground and created a massive explosion.

And Baldur’s whole world went white.

* * *

“-ur!’

“-aldur!”

“ **BALDUR! WAKE UP MY SON!** ”

He woke up alright.

He nearly threw up when he woke up, but he was awake.

And immediately greeted by the sight of his worried mother, holding a bow and arrow.

“Mom?”

Frigg grinned. “I’m here. Welcome back to the land of the living. Garnet told me your plan, you need to get moving.”

She fired off a couple of arrows into the distance, striking some unseen gems.

Baldur stood up, nearly stumbling in the process, and picked up his sword…which was conveniently right next to him.

“How did I survive?”

Frigg looked confused for a moment. “I…don’t really know. I saw some kind of apparition and I found you here, completely unscathed.” A few more arrows fired.

“Apparition?”

Wait a second.

Baldur’s eyes went wide and he immediately drew his sword.

Only when he looked around did he see he piles of gems around him.

And that the tower was right next to him.

“Oh my god, Mom, did you do all this?”

Frigg just grinned enigmatically.

“Where are the gems? You said you talked to Garnet but-?”

“They’re all scattered around the battlefield. It’s up to you now.” She looked at his face and saw Baldur’s visible anxiety. Frigg sighed and put her hand on his shoulder. “Listen to me, son. You can do this. I can’t go with you, I have to make sure our family is safe. But all of us. The gems, your friends, and your family are with you. I am with you no matter what.

Now go up there, and end this fight.”

Baldur steeled himself and took a deep breath. “No pressure right?”

Frigg smiled. “There is pressure. What defines us is how we handle that pressure.”

“Of course.” Then he hugged his mother tightly. “I love you, mom.”

She hugged right back. “I love you too, my son. Your father would be so proud of you. He’d be just as proud of you as I am, if he were here.”

Baldur smiled. Genuinely. He was released from the hug, and he looked up towards the tower. The tower that was causing so much pain and agony to the people he loved.

This was it.

The fight of his life.

Frigg grinned behind him. “May the light guide you, my son!”

“Oh please!” And Baldur smirked right back.

“I am the light.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just like your father with the silly one liners. Now get up there!”

And just like that, he charged the tower.

It didn’t take too long to find the mechanism where they were dropping troops, especially cause there was a trail of gems in the path. It was a giant sort of transport.

Pearl called it an elevator.

Baldur thought of it as a convenience.

He thrust his sword into the transport, and suddenly it pushed him upwards into the sky, towards the tip of the spire.

Despite the sheer terror he felt, he screamed out in joy.

Not everyday you get pushed upwards into the sky like you are flying.

A part of the tower opened up, and the transport moved inside the compartment. As soon as he was inside, Baldur could feel the destabilizer activate and its electric feeling permeate his bones. But it didn’t harm him. It just felt funny.

Baldur jumped off of the transport, and onto a ledge above him. He looked up and saw what looked to be…a door.

This was it.

Now or never.

He pulled himself onto the platform, and pulled out his sword. A rumbling coursed through the tower, but Baldur didn’t care. He could feel his heart rate frantically beating, but he couldn’t care.

He had to end this. He was so damn close.

There was no other option.

He rested his hand on the door. Tried to breathe in and out, just like his mother taught him. And then Baldur looked to the console on the right and smashed it with Hofund.

The door opened and he barged in, and, not thinking rationally, he was-

_WHAT! WHAT HAPPENED?!_

  
  


* * *

“Steven wh-, what part of I talk and you listen do you not understand?!”

Steven, who was now leaning forward in his new and improved chair(with his new and improved bonds), looked apologetic for a second. “I-I’m sorry, it just…

What you went through. It sounded terrifying…

I wish I could’ve-“

Isaac facepalmed. “There was nothing _you_ could have done, Steven. Not only were you not conceived, not only was Greg not in the picture, but Rose didn’t even consider having a family at the time!”

Steven took a deep breath. “You…you’re right. My dad once told me that there’s…no such thing as a good war.”

Isaac chuckled. “I heard your dad was wise but…that’s pretty good.”

Steven couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah...” It converted into a frown. “But no one truly told me the stories of war. Amethyst never saw it, Garnet only told me of how good a person Rose was, and well, how they met and stuff. Only war stories I ever got were from Pearl and Bismuth and even those were…”

“Watered down? Well, portraying war is a tricky thing.” Isaac sighed. “You can learn all about the battlefields out there but learning about the battles themselves is a whole other matter. There are dozens of different points of views, different accounts of a battle, and well…not all battles are victorious. They aren’t all glorious and virtuous. Sometimes things just go wrong.

People die. Lives are ruined.

It’s different when a battle happened a few hundreds ago. Because then people remember the fight.

But when a war has been going on for thousands of years…

People forget. And no one cares to tell the story.”

Steven couldn’t help but notice the tear going down Isaac’s eye. “There is a darkness in the world. In the hearts of people and yes…it’s in gems too. In the darkest corners of our psyches there is a menace. I’ve seen it first hand. There on that battlefield. And that is why I am doing what I am doing.

The others won’t tell you this story. It’s too violent and gruesome, even now. But I am asking you…do you want to open the box? Do you want to know what happened on that Battlefield five thousand years ago?”

Steven felt dread in his heart.

But he had been looking for answers for so long and…not that many people tell him the truth about what happened, let alone in a way like this.

Isaac is the first person coming to him, asking him if he wants to know the truth.

What else could he say?

“Yes.

I want to know what happened that day.”

Isaac nodded and leaned back in his chair. He pulled a drink out of his hair and opened it.

“Okay.

But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

* * *

-He was knocked to the ground. Something hard, something sharp had hit him over the head. A blade? An axe maybe? Didn’t matter.

It hurt.

It hurt a lot.

Baldur tried to amass his adrenaline and get back up, but he couldn’t. And soon, someone picked up the sword by his side but…

Not by hand, oh no, but by some kind of magic.

A gem held out her hand and it just went right to it.

In the past few years, Baldur had seen a lot of gem powers but this one was new.

Very new.

The gem had short, blue hair with a tinge of pink through it. A mainly black cloak with small traces of red, and a hood to go with it. Her eyes were too different colors: pink and blue. Or wait, was it orange and yellow?

The colors…they were changing.

There was a gemstone on the back of her right hand and some kind of…scar or burn on her left eye. There was something…oh god, what was the word Dot used, asymmetrical about her design. But what was really jarring was how…young she looked. Like the kids he knew back in Midgard.

But that hood….that general look.

Oh my god.

Baldur looked up, blood starting to drip into his eyes, and stared right at the gem…right into her eyes.

“You…you’re that phantom…the apparition?”

The gem looked remarkably guilty at that moment as another gem snatched the sword from her hand and laughter filled the room.

The Hackmanite.

She was alive?!

“I told Ammolite! I told her that once we used this wretched Moonstone, the Terran would come to us!”

A chair rose from the center of the command center, which appeared to be giant with a cylindrical shape, with a window overlooking…

The battlefield.

Oh no.

A gem behind him lifted him up, with no sense of care, and placed him in the chair. Instantly, he was bound to it and just…couldn’t move.

It gave him a good look around the room though.

He saw five gems. An Aventurine, green with a giant axe, the one who put him in the chair, and hit him over the head, no doubt. A pink Kunzite, wearing a hood and mask, albeit a different one from Moonstone, holding some kind of…rod? The white Herkimer, who wore some kind of distorted dress, the one leading this damn battle.

And that Hackmanite. Who unfortunately needed no introduction.

Because she should be dead.

The Herkimer grinned. “I must admit, when I heard your plan from White I was a bit…concerned. But using this Rainbow Moonstone to exact your plan, despite her being a useless monstrosity…a master stroke. White Diamond will be very pleased.”

Kunzite groaned. “Enough of your talk, of course White Diamond will be pleased. She’s always pleased with you Herkimer, you and your _order_ -”

Herkimer shouted back. “How _dare_ you?! You have no right to talk about her excellency like that!”

“And you’ve done nothing but bad mouth Pink on this whole trip!”

Baldur looked at Moonstone and noticed she wasn’t just quiet but she was…nervous. People kept talking about her like she was trash. Rose had briefly mentioned people called…Off Colors.

Was she one of them?

Why was being Off Color bad?

Eventually the Hackmanite scowled. “Get on with it! There is no time like the present and this Terran…” She grinned. “He’s had this coming for a while.”

_Okay_

_So. I’m being tortured._

_My life is on the line._

_The world is ending out there._

_What do I do?_

Baldur smirked and pointed at the Herkimer. “Hey! I know where I heard of you before! You’re the leader of that crazy cult!”

Herkimer’s expression quite literally deflated. “ _Excuse me?_ ”

“Yeah! Pearl told me all about you! Said you were in charge of this Order dedicated to White Diamond, and you killed anyone who didn’t follow her rule! I gotta tell you, I didn’t think you were real but you here, commanding a battle? You must be way out of your depth!”

“And the rest of you! The half measure warrior in Yellow Diamond’s court, the shitties-oh, sorry, _most intimidating_ interrogator in Pink’s little court, and the disgraced Hackmanite! You guys have a hell of a line up!”

There was a brief silence. Everyone in the room scowled…except Moonstone.

She…smiled?

_Why does it feel like she’s the only one who doesn’t want to kill him?_

Instantly, the initially silent Aventurine grabbed him by the hair and…stabbed him in the gut. With his own twin bladed sword no less.

“How dare you judge me, but not that worthless Off-Color!” She pointed right at the Moonstone, who cowered in fear just slightly. The Aventurine grinned ruefully. “Or maybe you see yourself as something just as pathetic, especially after banding with those Crystal Frea-”

Baldur spit blood right in her face. She was stunned completely as Baldur smirked. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, that was just a slight cough. Damn shame for one of...” He leaned in close. “Yellow’s most prized toys to have a bit of goop on her.”

Baldur had been fighting for all his life. Trained by the fiercest warrior in the whole goddamn world. He’d seen the worst of humanity, and after joining up with the gems, the worst in the universe. He’d trained most of the rebellion and faced countless scars.

A gut stab was nothing.

So he spit once again on Aventurine’s shoes. She reeled back in shock, and frantically tried to wipe it off.

Hackmanite laughed. “Come on, never been on Earth before? You have never seen their…icky red liquid?!”

The Aventurine kept scowling and frantically trying to wipe the blood off while Baldur just chuckled, still bleeding. He spotted the Moonstone and saw that her hand was covering her mouth.

She was holding back a grin wasn’t she?

Oh he liked this gem.

Reminded him of a kid he knew a while ago…her name was Thrud.

She was a fierce warrior, yet kind and loving all at the same time. Frigg took her in for days on end, and for a while, Baldur saw her as a daughter of sorts.

Last he heard of her she was…

_On the battlefield._

The war was still going and he

He hadn’t disabled the command center yet.

Oh no.

Oh no no no no no.

Before he could even try to break out, the Kunzite scoffed, unamused. “Please. We each represent all four unique diamonds…well-” She looked at Moonstone with a sneer. “-three and a half. But the fact of the matter is we’ve all been sent here by our diamonds for a very specific and true purpose. To end this rebellion once and for all.”

“Our Diamond didn’t send us here. And you know it, Kunzite.”

Moonstone.

She _spoke?!_

Her voice sounded just as young as Thrud did so long ago. Sweet and calm with a twinge of fire.

In that moment Baldur realized that the kid didn’t deserve this. She was just as much a victim as Pearl and Rose.

Kunzite looked at her with only slight contempt. “No one asked you to speak. And you don’t seem to remember that Pink Diamond begged for a colony for thousands of years and did anything and everything to get it! That’s where we came in, remember? She wanted this planet to die for so long. What’s wrong with trying to give her that suffering, regardless of what’s changed?”

Moonstone said nothing, just clenched her fists. Kunzite only sighed. “My point is, let’s just torture this scum and be done with it.”

Hackmanite grinned. “We finally agree on something.”

Baldur smirked despite his fear. “Finally!”

Kunzite flipped a switch and turned his chair towards…the window.

Oh god.

Baldur saw the entire battle unfold. He saw the fight, the long and arduous fight that would no doubt define his life for years to come.

He saw everyone he loved out there. And he saw some of those people dying.

He saw them losing.

Baldur now frantically tried to get out, which the Kunzite laughed at. “Oh, now you’re afraid? Good.

Cause it’s only gonna get worse from here.”

And then Baldur screamed as an electric charge filled his body.

* * *

Pearl remembered it.

She remembered a lot of things from the war. The times she fought with Rose, when she truly fell for her. Meeting Garnet, Bismuth, Baldur. People she loved and trusted. She remembered the corruption song. How it all ended.

But the Battlefield… _the_ battlefield, is still fresh.

Four hours. It was four hours since that explosion went off. The control center was still not disabled, and everyone that mattered on the battlefield was still scattered to the winds.

She was on her own.

She’d fought gem after gem after gem, all by herself. Fires raged around the battlefield, and she was running. Running into the flames.

She saw one gem that was going after Rose.

When she had protected Rose in the past, she had gotten herself poofed time and time again. But this time, she couldn’t afford to get poofed. She couldn’t afford to lose any time.

It was a hell of a fight but the Citrine was defeated. Pearl couldn’t remember if her gem had been grazed or not. But she remembered hugging Rose and endeavoring to find the others. Asking where her scabbard was, to which Rose responded with a simple I don’t know.

But then the situation became clear.

“Baldur. Where’s Baldur?”

Pearl herself asked that question. And Pearl could see the exact moment Rose’s fear increased ten fold.

“How do we help him? He’s in a place we can’t reach, how in the world do we help him?!”

And when Rose said “I don’t know if we can,” for the first time…Pearl felt angry towards her diamond.

And it would not be the last time that day.

A plan was made. Find Garnet and Bismuth. Then find Baldur’s people.

But they forgot the promise.

They forgot the promise. The only thing Baldur ever asked of them.

“Protect my family.”

And they forgot it.

Rose often forgot things. Spinel, Volleyball…the promise she made Pearl keep. Or did she just erase them from her memory, just for her own benefit.

Pearl often wondered what she’d say to Rose if she was still here. Would she embrace her? Would all of her old feelings come flooding back?

Or would she hate her? Yell at her, scream, cry, feel a sense of rage that she now only ever feels when she thinks about her. How was it possible that the person she loved more than anything in this world…she now felt nothing but anger towards. Sure, there were the good times, the good moments that she will always cherish.

But now…

Stars, it really _was_ over wasn’t it.

“Pearl. We’re here.”

She snapped out of her reverie and looked at Connie with a small smile. She looked up at her with concern.

“Pearl, I’m…sorry I’ve been yelling at you so much, I just…”

Pearl smiled. “It’s okay Connie. I…get it.” Then she smirked. “I’m just surprised that you know such vulgar language.”

Connie blushed and Lars just snorted.

Pearl took a deep breath as she stepped off the warp pad into the temple. “This whole situation is…too much. I feel like we’ve put too much on Steven, and yet we never give him the answers he deserves. And in this case this was probably one of our gravest crimes…I don’t blame you for being angry because truth be told I’m angry too. Too many times we’ve fought gems that have come after us and our home and tried to kill Steven. But here…”

Lars stepped in. “Everything’s different. The stakes have changed, and Isaac, he’s unlike anything we’ve ever faced before. This whole situation just seems crazy.”

“Well, it’s about to get crazier.”

Peridot was standing near a series of monitors, watching them carefully. They displayed images of the entire world and there were little ripples spaced out throughout the globe.

Connie raised an eyebrow as all three of them walked up to the monitors. “What happened?”

“So, the attack earlier today at the Jotunheim Homeschool…well, the detonations triggered there caused some major seismic activity around the Earth. Earthquakes are being triggered around Norway. Nothing _particularly_ major, no casualties but…it’s still very concerning.

And it does not stop there.”

Peridot pressed a button and the ripples multiplied. “There are more attacks going. Australia, India, Arabia, South America. Even though this _Isaac_ has Steven, his people are still on the warpath. That’s where everyone else is, they’re doing their best to minimize the damage and the casualties. ”

Lars started to panic. “Is Little Homeschool in danger?”

Peridot had very wide eyes, with a weird crazed smile. “That’s the weird part.” She pointed right at Little Homeschool on the map. “It’s like everyone that works for Isaac is staying as far away from Little Homeschool as possible. Not just that, but many other camps, where gems are pacifistic, peaceful are being avoided at all costs. In fact the only camps being targeted are ones that have been labeled as-”

Connie spoke with wide eyes. “‘Dangerous’. Peridot, you and I created a sort of watch list for a while for Homeschool camps that had gems that were conspiring to inflict great harm. The intention was to confiscate their weapons and try to sort it out but-”

“Oh my god.” It hit Lars at that moment. “Isaac, he’s…he’s been one step ahead of us this whole time. He attacked Jotunheim to send a message, to get the ball rolling. Steven was brought into the picture and now not only has he captured him, but he’s moving forward, using our tools, devices from eras long gone to fulfill his mission. He must’ve been planning this for ages.”

Pearl put her head in her hands. “When I knew him, Baldur was one of the fiercest warriors I had ever known. If he is planning something on this scale-”

A loud beeping went off from Peridot’s monitors. Her eyes went wide. “That’s…odd.”

“What’s wrong now?”

“Now there’s some kind of…disturbance on the moon? The data placed on the Moon Base has been wiped and stolen and…now that I’m looking at it, there are embers rising from some of the craters?”

“Oh my stars.” Pearl’s eyes went wide. “I don’t think those are normal embers.

We need to go to the moon.”

* * *

Four hours. Baldur was tortured for four hours.

Made to watch every development on the battlefield, every victory

But mostly every loss.

Larimar was doing her best to gather the gemstones, the…the bodies in the carnage. For safekeeping. But it was a lot. Weimar, Oscar…

So many lives. So many friends.

And still his family was on their own. Thrud, Frigg, they were fighting a battle by themselves.

Rose…

Her promise. What happens if she doesn’t keep her promise?

No. This is Rose. She has to keep her promise.

She has to.

“ **AGH!** ”

Oh _god_ this again.

For four hours, they had electrocuted him, stabbed him, carved gem glyphs, and tested all possible gem technologies and devices of torture on him. His armor had been ripped apart, and his body was nothing but scars and blood.

Though Kunzite seemed to be holding on to something far more sinister.

The strange thing about this whole situation was that Moonstone was stabbing him but in the least painful places possible.

And when she was forced to carve gem glyphs, she carved runic symbols instead.

The first time this happened, she spoke

In his native tongue.

“Skrik høyt så de tror dette gjør vondt.”

(“Scream loudly so they think this hurts.”)

It was a bit jarring to say the least.

Baldur on the surface remained calm but deep down…he was feeling sick.

Years of training with Odin had helped him contain the pain but this…it was too much. His whole world was coming undone and he was alone.

He could see his Mother panicking out there, looking up at the tower every once in a while in fear. Wondering where her son was.

And every time she had that look in her eyes, he felt tears in his own.

After Moonstone had just stabbed him in the shoulder, Aventurine went for another gut stab.

The pain started to blend together after a while, with end in sight. It just became an infinite stream of nothing.

His eyes started to glaze over, he was sweating profusely, and his hands were jittering. Herkimer grinned at the sight. “Where are your words of comedy now _Baldur_?”

Baldur groaned. Almost all of his energy had been sapped, but he still had enough for his signature wit.

“My words of comedy are in…your poorly veiled cult. And in your pathetic stone on your forehead. You’re really trying to go for that…false diamond look.”

She screamed out in anger and raised her hand, a bright light emanating from it. She shined it right into Baldur’s eyes. It didn’t blind him; no, it did far worse.

It just hurt. It really really hurt. The agony began to consume Baldur and even the words he heard in his ears became skewed.

“-you done yet? How long will Pink Diamond’s weapon take to be prepared? And your brand, the _brand of the Diamonds_ , Kunzite, how long will it take?”

“Work with me here Aventurine, it’s a delicate process. Not just that, you’ve got to take your time with it. That way, the pain really _registers_.”

The only thing Baldur could register was Hackmanite stalking him. Like a predator stalking their prey.

He smirked, laughing deliriously. “You guys and your torture techniques. Stabbing, blood collecting, electrocuting, all manner of,” He coughed, “Torture! But see, this is nothing. In my culture there is a technique called the blood eagle. My father told me all about it. Their backs were sliced open, and their organs were…well, you can imagine the rest.”

Baldur grinned a toothy grin. “Doesn’t really work for gems though doesn’t it? You guys don’t have organs, you’re pure light. I wonder sometimes…” He didn’t even know what he was saying anymore, he was on the precipice of madness.

“If your gems were poofed, cracked, shattered…and the shards were strewn about in a pattern.” He tried to reach at his head to rub it, but he forgot he was in bonds. “Oh god, I can’t think straight, if the shards were strewn in a pattern! Like the blood eagle…would the gem reactivate? Would they feel the pain?”

Hackmanite chuckled. “I can see why Rose and her pack of renegades may like you. Odd, off-colored, just like the rest of them.”

Baldur nearly grinned at the sound of Kunzite wracking her head about his torture technique.

But then Hackmanite kept going, her british accent slithering out of her mouth like a snake. “You know, you talk a lot of your father. That is what is so fascinating about your kind, your sense of family. I have kept my eye on you for years since you disgraced me, and I have never seen anything like it.

Truth be told, we have never tortured a human. This is new for us. Torturing a gem is different. To them, it’s all about the reputation. They lose their seating, their power, their place in Homeworld, the things that come naturally for them…they begin to snap. You break their gem and you break their reputation, that is how you torture them. But with you…reputation means nothing, you keep going. You have no gem to break, your wounds heal. _This_ will heal.

That’s the thing about you Crystal Gems, the traditional techniques don’t work. Even this, you are working through just fine. It’s actually amazing! But those gems have tried so hard to live with you that they’ve imitated you.

Rose really wants to be just like you, like…what do you call it, a parasite? Yes. A parasite. Trying to step into things she doesn’t understand. You think she is your ally, but she brings ruin everywhere she goes. I mean, how do you think I stand here before you today? You threw me away, disposing of me. It was the right thing from a tactical standpoint, of course. But Rose…she found me and she _let me_ _go_. Made me promise to change my ways…I mean, I didn’t of course, but still.”

Baldur scowled. “You’re _lying_.”

Hackmanite sighed. “Fair enough. I didn’t expect much. Perhaps you’ll realize that soon. But anyways…what makes you special is your sense of family. Brotherhood. Even your Crystal Gems have attempted to imitate that concept.”

She grinned. “ _So what happens if I take that family, that brotherhood away from you?_

**_Why, I think it would break not just you humans, but…why it could end the rebellion in one fell swoop.”_ **

The paradigm shifted. The game changed.

The stakes were raised.

And Baldur felt thousands of emotions run through him all at the same time.

On the inside, fear. A graver fear than he’s ever felt in his life.

On the outside. Pure, unbridled rage.

“ _If you even look at them wrong, so help me god,_ **_I WILL RIP YOUR GEM APART PIECE BY FUCKING PIECE!_ **”

Herkimer laughed. “Well, what do you know. Your gambles have paid off yet again. I expect no less from one of White’s most promised generals. I imagine none of the other Hackmanites would have-”

Aventurine grabbed her by the arm with a scowl. “Get on with it already!” She turned to Kunzite. “You ready?”

And she grinned. “Yup.”

She flipped a switch, and Baldur could feel the rumbling in the entire spire, and right in his very soul.

Now he was desperately trying to break out of his bonds as Hackmanite laughed. “Look what happens when family is put into the equation! You’re vulnerable, weak, misguided, and-”

“ **BOLD WORDS FOR SOMEONE ABOUT TO LOSE EVERYTHING!** ”

They laughed. Laughed. And it began to tug at Baldur, tear him apart limb from limb. Only person not laughing was Moonstone. She looked…apologetic.

He started to beg. “Please, don’t do this, don’t hurt them, kill me instead-!”

Aventurine punched him in the gut. “Pathetic! This is what you get for picking the wrong si-”

He head-butted her, hard, causing her to jerk her arm back. Baldur started to sob. “ **DO IT! END THIS SO I WON’T HAVE TO SEE WHAT COMES NEXT!** ”

Kunzite smirked and gave him one last electrical charge. “No, you have to see this. The weapon that Pink Diamond spent so long preparing just for this purpose. Besides, four human hours of your torture will go down the drain if this doesn’t happen.”

Baldur kept trying to struggle, even through the electricity but soon…the bonds were released. And instead of being able to fight, he could do nothing except collapse to the ground. There was no energy left. No fight left. A strange feeling of resolution, dark resolution came over him.

That feeling only became worse when he heard Moonstone mutter something that chilled him to his core.

“Jeg'm så beklager.”

( _“I’m so sorry.”_ )

There was no way out, was there? This was it.

Herkimer began to mutter a sinister prayer, Hackmanite was grinning widely, ordering Aventurine to do something. Kunzite was watching through a monitor, detached from what was about to happen. Moonstone just…looked. She didn’t look away, she looked _right out of the window_. And she silently cried. No one saw it, no one noticed it. Except Baldur.

And Aventurine held him right up to the window. At that moment, nothing truly mattered. The prayer, the grins, the monitors, even Moonstone’s quiet reflection. It all faded away.

Because Baldur saw his mother out there. He saw Thrud there too. Saw his family, his people, the people he loved. Even some of the gems that mattered to him. Pyrite, Shungite, Tourmaline, a Tanzanite that shouldn’t even have been on the battlefield in the first place.

And he saw that they were in the battlefield on their own. Fighting side by side, yet imperceptibly terrified. They even looked downtrodden as they looked towards something in the distance. He followed their gaze and could feel his own mental state come crumbling down.

Rose Quartz, Garnet, Pearl, the Crystal Gems…were on another corner of the battlefield. Protected by Rose’s bubble. Some of his people were protected, under the protection of the bubble, desperately trying to break out to reach their family. Pearl looked the same, Garnet looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Rose Quartz _was_ crying. But she was still. 

She wasn’t going to drop the bubble.

His family…his mother…

They were going to die.

The last surviving member of his family was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it except watch.

Rose broke his promise. She _broke his promise._

And now he had to go through a fate worse than death. He had to watch his family die.

With what strength he had in him, he desperately tried to bang at the window, tried to get his mother to see him, knowing full well that it was impossible.

A pink fire started to emerge from the tower, and at that point Baldur understood what was about to happen.

But Frigg. Thrud. All the ones who were still alive looked right at the window. He knew they couldn’t see him but…

They knew he was there.

Baldur was sobbing right then, wondering what would happen next. Would they gesture some kind of runic symbol, some old traditional gesture, what, **WHAT?!**

No.

They just put their hands in a heart configuration.

Oh god.

_Oh god._

Now Baldur was desperately trying to bang at the window, much to the amusement of everyone in the room.

The Kunzite walked forward, said something about torture, or shame. But Baldur did not care.

He was frantically screaming as the pink fire turned to an all consuming explosion that began to consume the battlefield. Baldur desperately tried to remember the last thing his mother said to him. Was it something meaningless, trivial?

No.

No, no, no.

“I love you too, my son. Your father would be so proud of you. He’d be just as proud of you as I am, if he were here.”

Oh god.

No, it couldn’t end like this! It couldn’t! Even as he felt his back being burned to cinders, he just hoped that it didn’t have to end like this. He’d given everything for the gems, everything-

And yet, it was not enough.

The pink fire consumed them and burned them to cinders. Their flesh, then their bones, and then ash.

They were gone. They had all spent years fighting; in the case of the Pyrite it was centuries. Pyrite had fought with him time and time again, Shungite had taken up the charge of defending Midgard while Baldur was away, Tourmaline had been a source of pure joy in times of darkness, and Tanzanite had kept him stable for a long time. Thrud had been with the Odinsons since she was just a girl, she was like a daughter to him.

And Frigg…his mother? The woman who had looked after him since the very moment he was born, who had calmed him when he was anxious, taught him, along with his father, how to fight, been there for him every step of the way, supported his every action.

_She was gone._

**_They were_ ** **_all_ ** **_gone._ **

Baldur screamed, agony, pain, and loss consuming him, as the Aventurine pulled him back and the Kunzite pulled out the rod…revealing a brand, shaped like a diamond. It had four variants of colors, with a red, fiery hot outline.

And she placed the brand right on his chest, and Baldur’s pain increased ten fold. He almost blacked out from the pain as he collapsed, Aventurine having let go of him.

He could hear the fire consuming everything in his past, but he couldn’t bear to look anymore. He didn’t _need_ to look to know that he’d lost everything

And yet Rose

Was alive.

Born out of the darkest depths of his heart was anger, _true_ , _primal,_ ** _ancient_** _and_ ** _sinister_** anger. And it warred with the growing apathy, the prevailing sadness. And it fought and fought and fought, and as Hackmanite laughed behind him.

It won.

Hackmanite was smirking. “Well, what do you know. You really are weak after all. With no emotional attachments left, you break, like any other gem. Worthless, just like the rest. These attachments of yours…they won’t last. But we live forever. We prosper forever.

You will die before you see the perfect world you missed out on.”

And Baldur?

He clenched his fists, blood pouring down his body, the fiery hot brand turning the drips into steam, and scowled.

“You’re wrong.”

And for the first time, he felt like he had some semblance of power in that room.

“Taking away emotional attachments doesn’t make a person weak. It doesn’t make them docile. It makes them relentless. Gives them nothing left to lose. True strength comes from how you pick yourself up after you’ve lost everything. And _I. Am. Still. Here._ Aren’t I? I’ve lost everything but I will not let that defeat me. I will not let that break me. Because I am a Berserker, the last of my village. I am a crystal gem, one of the original founders. And I am Baldur Odinson. And I will avenge my mother’s death.”

Hackmanite laughed. They all laughed. But quite frankly, Baldur didn’t give a damn. But Moonstone…

She clenched her fists too.

Wait.

_What was happening here?_

“All this time he’s talked and talked and talked. Well, he has nothing else to give right? No more torture, nothing. So let me just end this.”

That was Moonstone speaking.

Herkimer looked ready to tear her gem apart but Kunzite, standing right in front of the torture chair, grinned. “Well, what do you know, the Moonstone finally has her fighting spirit back. Let her do this, Hackmanite, let her in on some of the fun! Off-color or not…well, we can do whatever we want to her later! Might as well grant her the killing blow, we’ve already killed him ourselves!”

Now Aventurine looked like she wanted to kill her, but Hackmanite stopped her, wearing a truly menacing grin. “Sure. I don’t see why she shouldn’t have a bit of fun.”

She handed her Hofund, his own sword, and Kunzite gave her the double tipped blade, his other sword. She walked towards him, and he could do nothing but lean on the glass window, a dark look in his eyes.

“If you mean to kill me, then you better do it quick because I won’t hesitate in gutting you the first second I get.”

“Bære med meg her. Jeg våket familien din dør, så du mister alt du elsker. Jeg har sett for mange mennesker dø i min plikt. Nå vil jeg gjøre noe bra for én gang i mitt liv.”

Baldur’s eyes went wide as he internally translated what she said.

(“Bear with me here. I watched your family die, watched you lose everything you love. I have seen too many people die in my duty. Now I want to do something good for once in my life.”)

Aventurine raised an eyebrow, slowly approaching the two. “What is she saying?”

Moonstone smirked. “An insult in his mother tongue. I’ve spent years on this planet, watching him and studying him. Longer than you Hackmanite. I know his ways.” She imperceptibly looked at him seriously. “Fikk en plan?”

(“Got a plan?”)

“Jepp. Fungerer som du're kommer til å drepe meg deretter hånd meg den enorme sverd, når jeg gir signalet. Du holder den andre. Vi ripp dem alle til gagns, og deretter deaktiverer jeg command center. Men Hackmanite's mine. Fikk det?”

(“Yup. Act like you're going to kill me then hand me the giant sword, when I give the signal. You keep the other one. We rip them all to shreds, and then I disable the command center. But Hackmanite's mine. Got it?”)

“Hva's signalet?”

(“What’s the signal?”)

Baldur winked. And Moonstone smirked.

“So…Baldur Odinson? Any last words?”

She raised her sword above his head, and he grinned.

“There was something I learned as a Crystal Gem. Actually, I learned it far earlier. From my parents. The greatest folly, weakness in a war isn’t love. Bravery. Loyalty. No, it’s overconfidence. Believing that you’re so above failure that you refuse to accept it. And when someone is so overconfident, so cocky and sure…then you take that confidence…

_And you rip it to shreds. Just like I am going to do to you._

**_NOW!_ ** _”_

Adrenaline burned within Baldur as Moonstone threw him Hofund, and he immediately grabbed Kunzite. Herkimer and Hackmanite moved forward with wide eyes, but before the Aventurine could intervene, Moonstone went for her, and they engaged in a duel. 

Kunzite grinned. “You really think that you can hurt me? I’m not like you, I’m not so weak-”

But he looked down at the ground and saw the rod, with the brand still on it, broken into pieces. All that was left was a stick with a red shard connecting to it. And he smirked. He picked up the stick and laughed. “I wonder what this will do.”

Kunzite looked at the object and her eyes went wide. “No, please don’t-”

“And now you beg. Good. Now you understand fear. True fear.” He looked at Hackmanite and Herkimer with a dark look. “None of you can do anything. Because you’re scared. And you should be. All your life you’ve lived without fear, without true emotion. Well, allow me to show you what you’ve been missing.”

He carved out her gem stone with the stick, and she screamed a piercing scream. Herkimer scrambled for a lever to call in backup, while Hackmanite was paralyzed. Eventually, the crack had been left, and all that was left of the Kunzite before she was dissipated was a red, distorted mess. And then her gem shattered from the pain.

Baldur threw the shard at Herkimer’s arm, causing a rot to spread throughout her arm. But it was too late, the reinforcements were called.

But he didn’t really notice that. What he _did_ notice was that the Moonstone had cut the Aventurine in half, splintering her gem everywhere, embedding a piece of shrapnel deep into his face. But it didn’t hurt, it just…settled.

As Aventurine dissipated, Moonstone covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.”

Baldur smirked despite himself. “No issue at all. Trust me.” But then the reinforcements started to come in and he sighed. “You got this?”

Moonstone smirked. “I do.” And she vanished. A specter in the wind.

Baldur drew his sword and immediately smashed at the command center, destroying it. Herkimer charged him during this process, attempting to blind him with her light. But he just raised his sword and blocked it with light of his own.

“I assume you’ve never heard the stories?

I am Baldur. The God of the Light. Perhaps one day I’ll tell your Diamond that to her face as I rip her apart.”

A fire emerged from the sword, incinerating the roof of the command center and consuming the room with fire. Herkimer scowled. “ **YOU’VE KILLED US ALL!** ”

She charged Baldur but he just cut the gem in half, swiping his sword across it. Baldur grinned. “No. Just you. Your prayers won’t help you now. You’ve already secured your place in Hel.”

The light from the two pieces of her gem shone and shone and shone, and burst into shards.

But before he could give any sense of reflection, something stabbed right into his chest. A giant sword, inches from his heart. The gem grabbed him and smashed him against the window, and _of course it was_ Hackmanite.

She scowled. “Well, look at you. A hero, trying to save the day. Even if you kill me, even if you destroy this station, it will mean absolutely _nothing_.”

Hackmanite added more pressure to the glass, cracking it more and more. And Baldur just had a dark look in his eyes. “You keep talking high and mighty, like you are a god. But you aren’t. You’re just a rock who got disgraced by a human. Doesn’t matter what has come before, it doesn’t matter what will come. In the end…that’s all history will know you as.”

The spire was being torn apart, partly from the battle outside picking back up, stronger than ever because of revenge, and from Baldur and Moonstone’s machinations. Moonstone herself had fought off

An entire army of reinforcements.

But then she saw Baldur getting strangled. She ran into her, and yet Hackmanite simply grabbed her with her other hand. She turned to her with a scowl. “And you. You freak of nature, made to be perfect in every way with the assistance of certain experiments that would make even a Spinel quake in fear. And yet you turned out to be an Off-Color. An assassin who feels _bad_ for her victims. Pink and Blue were so disappointed, weren’t they?”

Moonstone growled. “Shut. Up!”

“Makes sense that you’d bond with each other. Both pathetic and worthless-”

Baldur saw an opportunity. His sword was by his side, and while he couldn’t maneuver it much…

It would be a risk. It would kill him.

He would die.

But it was better to go out swinging.

And maybe…just maybe he’d see his family again.

So as Hackmanite was rambling, he raised his sword, positioned it just slightly, and grinned. “You once told me that we’d see each other again for a round 2…well…now you understand what it is like to lose one more time.”

He stabbed her, _right_ through the gem, straight through the window, and

Right through his heart.

The Hackmanite instantly dissipated, and the Moonstone stood in shock. “What…have you done?!”

Baldur gurgled out blood, in unimaginable pain. But he smiled. “I just…saved the day.”

And as the entire tower exploded, he fell out the window…comfortable in his victory.

Comfortable in the fact that he could see his family again.

  
  


And yet...

* * *

He came to. Tired and in pain but…he was awake. And _alive._

Oh _god._

The first thing he saw when he came to was Dot, one of his good friends. A disgraced Peridot from Pink Diamond’s court, who joined the Crystal Gems to make a difference. She was a mad genius in every sense of the word, but she was a true friend. Her limb enhancers were one continuous limb with no floating parts, more human than anything, but they could stretch if needed, like a…Spinel? Did Rose call it a Spinel that stretched in that way?

She also had a hell of a musical talent.

It should’ve been a comforting sight.

But god, it wasn’t.

Her eyes went wide. “Baldur? Oh my gosh, Baldur, you’re alive!”

She gave him a tight hug, and he instantly leaned into it. It felt safe…comforting.

Until he saw his own hands. His own scarred and bruised hands…the hands that his mother and father used to rub circles into, to comfort him during the sleepless nights…they were pink.

Baldur recoiled and he almost broke down right there and then. “Oh my god, what…what happened?”

Dot instantly looked somber. “…Rose. The whole thing was a long shot but after the battle she was just…sobbing non stop. And her tears they…brought people back. Only _humans_ though. Didn’t really work on gems. Or people that had…no body left to repair. It brought them back pink, all scars healed, like a whole new person…Oscar and Weimar made it actually, thanks to Larimar picking up the bodies. We found you impaled on one of the swords dropped into the ground by…all sides. Somehow Rose healed most of your wounds but I guess…some scars can’t be healed.”

She looked right at his chest and there it was. The brand. He could vaguely feel a shard of the brand, the one he used to destroy Kunzite, stuck in his shoulder. He grabbed it and stuffed it in a pouch. In his back, what was probably another brand. No…no, it just seemed like burns. He touched it and could feel no grooves, just…flesh. It was healed up slightly but…not enough.

In his face, also pink he presumed, was what was left of the Aventurine’s shards.

Then he looked at his heart, the very thing he destroyed to kill Hackmanite…and it was wrong. There was some kind of gem there instead.

He looked at Dot, and she looked just as confused. “I have no idea what that is but from my readings it seems like…a red diamond. Assembled from other gem shards on site perhaps as a heart substitute? Hard to say.”

Somehow, Baldur just…knew who would’ve done something like that. But then he looked at the place he knew like the back of his hand. The place he knew as Rogaland, or among them, the best backyard in the world was…in ruin.

The rocks were floating, the land was completely torn apart, and while the skies were clear, embers still burned. Gems and bodies and blood stained the land. There was no snow, and what was once water was now dirt. The only precipitation left was ash.

“What happened here?”

“…Pink Diamond’s weapon. I helped construct it when I served under Pink. I…” Dot started to cry just slightly. “I am so sorry Baldur.”

He shook his head. “You build a weapon thinking it will be used for good…the user is a monster, not the builder. You aren’t at fault Dot, you…”

And then it hit him. All at once, he realized it.

His mom was gone.

And his village…

“Dot…what of Midgard?”

“…I am so-”

Baldur didn’t even wait to hear the end of her sentence before he broke into a sprint. He didn’t wait to hear her call out, saying that he wasn’t even wearing a shirt. He ran.

Past the pool of blood, reflecting his all pink body, his all pink hair and beard. Past the friends who were back from the dead…and the ones who weren’t. Past the gems, the bones, the shards. The broken remains of the tower.

The ashes of his family.

The only thing he had left, the only hope he had left was the village surviving. The village that was not far from this field.

Please.

_Please._

He ran point to point, jumped from rock to rock, hill to hill, crawled through every crevice necessary to find his home again.

And when he did, he saw a crowd.

A crowd of friends and family. Oscar, Weimar, even his friends from other lands like Sasori were all gathered.

At the front of it all he saw Rose, Garnet, and Pearl.

Baldur could feel his anger rise, but what washed through was his fear.

He pushed through the crowd, ignoring the people apologizing and the rocks floating, and when he got to the front of the crowd.

He collapsed.

It was gone.

It was all gone.

The village, the cabins, the forges, the barracks, the kitchens, the campfires…his home. His entire home was all gone.

The place where he grew up, trained, met his first friends, met the Crystal Gems, enjoyed life to the fullest…it was gone.

The last remaining tether to his old life was gone.

In its place…were corpses. There were corpses as far as the eye could see and they were _beyond_ repair.

They were barely even corpses. Just ash with a shape.

Baldur started to sob before he felt Rose’s hand on his shoulder.

“Baldur I…I am so sorry this happened…but at least _you_ aren’t dead. At least your friends aren’t dead…at least your father is still out there. We can pick up the pieces from this, _you_ can pick up the pieces because you’re human, and you’re capable of so much-”

“He’s gone.”

Rose Quartz flinched at that.

“What?”

“I said…

**MY FATHER’S DEAD!”**

Everyone stepped back in shock (except Baldur’s own people) as he stood up and pointed right at Rose. “He’s been dead for years. When I was seven years old I found his body by Rogaland, the bay…a sword embedded in his head. And it bore a _Diamond_ insignia. A _pink_ one! Never made much sense to me then but it sure as hell does now. I’ve been the sole defender of my home for years and now…there is no home left for me, because of **YOU!** ”

Pearl’s eyes were wide, tears streaming down her face. “Baldur why…why didn’t you tell us?”

“ **BECAUSE YOU KNOW NOTHING OF FAMILY! NOTHING OF LOSS** . When you came here, I had to _explain_ what a mother and a father were. I had to _explain_ what it meant to die. You’ve never known loss. Oh, sure, you’ve known pain but…not like this.”

“I was tortured up in that tower for four hours, tortured beyond _belief_ , forced to watch my mother die right in front of me and you did **NOTHING!**

You broke your promise…the only thing I’ve ever asked for you in my life Rose, and you… **_YOU_ **-“

Garnet stopped him. “There was no way we could’ve helped you up there!”

But Baldur quickly shot back. “Oh yeah! And what of your future vision? Your future vision which knows all, right? Why didn’t it tell you about how to fix things right? Or that my father died?”

“That’s not how it-”

“Oh! Or better yet,

_Why did this happen?_

**_Because this wasn’t supposed to happen, according to you._ **

**_Right?”_ **

Garnet froze at that, and a tear streamed down her cheek. “I…this wasn’t supposed to happen Baldur, you have to believe me. This possibility-”

“Oh, so it was a possibility?”

“It was one in a million.”

Baldur laughed, “Oh really? I wonder why? Was it perhaps because _Hackmanite was alive?!”_

A gasp rung through the crowd, so comical that Baldur almost started cackling. Pearl’s eyes were wide. “But you killed her Baldur!”

“And Rose…let her live.” Another gasp. “It didn’t take much to put the pieces together. I threw her into the storm and you picked up her gem and set her free. That’s how she went back to White Diamond, that’s how all of this was made possible…

Your future vision didn’t tell you anything about that, did it?”

Pearl looked at Rose with wide eyes. “Rose…please tell me you didn’t…”

“…I’m sorry but…” Rose looked…apologetic(what a joke.) “I couldn’t just execute her.”

Garnet came undone and Pearl put her head in her hands.

Sapphire began to sob while Ruby was _enraged._

“ **WHY?! ROSE I DON’T-** ”

“Don’t bother Ruby.” He held his hand up and looked at Rose dead in the eye. “That weapon that killed us all…you knew what it was…you knew full well. Where do the lies and deceit end? The pain and agony, when does it stop?”

Rose had tears threatening to burst out. “Baldur I…I am sorry.”

She tried to place her hand on his shoulder-

-But he slapped her right across the face. “Don’t. You. _Dare_ . Touch. Me. I trusted you with my life Rose. With everything I had. And you broke…your only promise to me. I have nothing left Rose. No one. It’s _all_. Gone.” He started to cry. “I went through hours of torture, saw my family die and…not only were you the cause of it all…you wouldn’t even let me reunite with them in Valhalla. I…”

He steeled himself with a scowl. “I will stay with the Crystal Gems. If only to protect my people and see this through. I will do what you ask, follow your orders, like a _good_ soldier. But we are _not_ friends. And if your orders are faulty, if they cause the endangerment of the people I love, or they are just, oh I don’t know, _wrong?_ I will disobey without even a moment’s thought. Hackmanite was right about one thing.

You really _are_ a parasite.”

He turned to walk away, towards his home, and into a cabin that…may have been safe. He spoke, knowing full well they could all hear him. “If you choose to follow me…I will shatter you.”

Baldur Odinson walked away that day. He chose to side with the Crystal Gems but in the end…

He was fated to walk his own separate way.

And that is the tale of Baldur Odinson.

The man who lost everything.

_The man on the spire._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I have a lot of explaining to do.  
> I am soooo sorry for the long hiatus. This chapter has been done for a while, but a few things got in my way. This was supposed to release in early February but then  
> My computer broke. I basically lost a lot of stuff that I may never get back, but this was safe. So when I got the chance, and my computer was mostly repaired, I got back to work and finished the chapter. But because this was so important, I got a friend of mine, who on AO3 is named Tengosa, to beta it. And he finished last week or the week before. And at that point I realized that I should wait for today:  
> The day SUF comes back. The beginning of the end.  
> So here we are. That was the chapter where you understood why Isaac is the way he is. Why he has committed such acts of violence in the name of anger. This chapter was vital and every detail matters. It explains everything that has come before, and paves the way for what comes next. I can't promise this will be the last flashback cause we got a few more to go. This is Isaac's story in a sense. Everyone is just in the center of it.  
> And in terms of that: For the next few weeks, on every friday, I will release a new chapter in the name of SUF. And when it ends...well, the chapter that will come out that day will lead to the next arc of this story. This story isnt ending anytime super soon.  
> So please, pleasseeee, leave a comment. It helps a lot for motivation and just seeing what people think. I hope everyone enjoyed and I'll see you guys next week!


	14. Nothing to Lose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After you've told your life story, told your very reason for being, your very reason for fighting for so many years.
> 
> What do you do now?
> 
> What comes next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW:
> 
> Mentions/hints at self harm!

Ten to fifteen years ago, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Steven and Peridot visited the Moon Base. There they found out what the original intentions and plans for Earth were.

It was meant to be a supply depot, an infinite supply of infinite resources. Where all natural life was meant to be turned to ruin, all for the gain of a Diamond.

Peridot said it could have been great.

A lot had changed since then. Peridot was now a Crystal Gem. A hero.

Steven Universe was in his 20s.

And it turned out that the Earth was the property of Pink Diamond.

In some ways, Steven supposed as he felt tears pour out of his eyes, some things hadn’t changed.

Back then, Garnet smashed the Central Console in anger at Peridot’s words.

And Baldur…Isaac Sterling did just the same after he told his story.

Sparks flew, cutting his arms and burning them slightly. But no scars were left.

Perhaps that was why he had wiped the data just minutes before.

Maybe he was ready for this.

Steven certainly wasn’t.

Every once in a while he learned something new and horrifying about Rose Quartz, about Pink Diamond.

And every day he has to ask himself what her worst crime was.

Steven couldn’t help but cry at the sheer horror of Isaac’s story. Even as he leaned over the remains of the console, he heaved in and out with labored breath.

And then, with tears in his eyes, Isaac finally spoke. “I…I am sorry.”

Of all the things Steven expected Isaac to say after he poured his heart out

Sorry wasn’t one of them.

“Wh-why are you sorry? You did  _ nothing _ wrong!”

“I did  _ everything _ wrong! You didn’t need to hear that story! You’ve got bigger things to worry about, bigger fish to fry. And I-I just burdened you even further!

And now I am hurting people because of-the pain I’ve been dealt and I’ve hurt you and-“ He started to frantically speak, scratching at the ropes and bandages around his arm.

“Everyone I love is gone and I can’t stand the sight of myself in the mirror anymore. I can’t let anyone else get hurt again, I  **_won’t_ ** ! But what does it matter, I have nothing left.

There is art and pictures for Rose and Pink despite all of her crimes but

I don’t  _ remember _ what my Mom looks like.”

He started to collapse to the ground and he leaned back against the console, taking some deep breaths in and out. He thought of the ways his mother used to calm him down and the songs she would sing.

Oh she had such a beautiful voice. He remembered that much at least.

He felt himself slowly becoming stable, as he began to open his eyes.

But he saw Steven just looking at him with wide eyes.

No.

Looking at the bandages.

Steven saw these red marks and scratches all around his arms.

Thinking back, he remembered seeing red scratches on his chest too, a while back.

“Isaac…what is that?”

He looked at the scars. He remembered the blade. He remembered the brand and the shard that was left of it.

He remembered carving out the star symbol over the Diamond, scribbling it out like a child would scribble out a mistake.

He realized that he still had that brand after all these years.

And so he couldn’t help but mutter simply, “Not all wounds are…physical. The ones that aren’t can lead to…damage far worse than one could ever expect.”

“God…Isaac I…am so, so sorry.

Maybe you’ve done wrong now but what happened then wasn’t your fault.

And I want…I want to help.”

Isaac looked up at him with his eyebrow raised. “ _ Why? _ ”

Truth be told, Steven himself wasn’t really sure.

He was barely able to help Spinel, and during his late teenage years, he struggled with helping anyone.

His life had been so dependent on helping people to the point where he was sick of it.

So what made this situation different?

It wasn’t like helping Connie, or Pearl, or Garnet, or Amethyst. This felt different.

And then it occurred to him.

Made to trust and love someone who was… _ higher _ than him.

Starts finding out that it isn’t as it seems, and then gets cast aside and left behind.

Began to resent that very same person he was supposed to look up to.

All the while hurting others as he drowned in pain and loss.

…Carrying brands of the pain he’s been dealt.

Oh  _ god. _

“…Because you’re like me.”

Isaac looked up with wide eyes as he continued.

“You’re right. We really are both products of Pink Diamond’s failure. Made to look up to her and love her when…well, she did a lot of wrong.” Steven chuckled slightly. “She was a brat in every sense of the word. But I guess I finally realize that she had me out of pure love. To be one good thing in a life of wrong.

It took me a long time to realize that I had value  _ beyond _ Rose Quartz.

So maybe…maybe I can help you to realize something similar.

That you are your own person.

More than the brands and scars you carry, more than Rose, more than the wrong you’ve done.

You are you Isaac.

So…while I’m not keen on calling you brother yet.

I get it. I finally get it.

Maybe helping you stop your…reign of terror will help make me feel like the years of…uselessness meant something.”

Isaac stared at him with shock, but then he chuckled lightly, as he wiped a tear from his eye. “Ah geez, you and your speeches. I can see how you were able to redeem so many…problematic gems. If you start singing songs, I swear I’m going to hit you again.”

“I make  _ noooooo _ promises.”

Isaac snorted and found himself laughing slightly. Steven joined in after a moment and for a second, all was good. Maybe things could change.

Until they both heard the warp in the base.

No.

They heard Lion.

At that sound, it was like Isaac’s whole demeanor changed. He went from the easy going, slightly emotional friend, to the wide eyed soldier ready for a fight.

He pulled out his giant revolver and jumped up, walking slowly to the door to the main command center. He peeked his head slightly and then reeled back. “ _ Shit _ !” He whispered. “Your friends are here Steven. Connie, Pearl, and Lars to be exact.”

Steven’s eyes went wide. “Don’t-“

Isaac slowly walked over to Steven and covered his mouth. “I ain’t hurting them. They’re my friends too remember?”

He held up his hand and a portal spawned behind them, and she sighed apologetically. “…But I’m not done with our conversation yet. Because I imagine you still have some questions.

And now?

So do _ I _ .”

He began to push him, and the chair he was sitting in, into the portal.

And suddenly, he was somewhere else, on the edge of some kind of…railing.

Isaac released his hand from Steven’s mouth and pulled his chair back from the railing. Steven scowled. “You know, after our little heart to heart on the Moon, I would’ve thought that we’d be  _ chill _ !’

Isaac chuckled. “I mean, the speech helped! But it’s not going to undo years of pain.” Then he sighed. “Sorry, that whole situation was harsh of me. But I still have questions for you.

And I think now, especially once you look around

You may have some questions for me.”

Steven did just that, he looked around.

And they were in the lighthouse. Right on the hill above the temple.

It looked…lively? There was furniture, computer machinery, actual functioning lights. It looked clean, like something out of a sci-fi movie. But it was hard not to notice the still present cracks and rot from what was once a horror movie.

“How did you-?”

“Like what I’ve done with the place? Took a lot of time and money to renovate it but I’d say it worked out! Looks cleaner, nicer, and it runs great, like it used to…” He opened up the central console and observed the cameras, and pressed a button, and suddenly there was a direct feed of the Moon Base. “…In the late 1800s.”

The gears slowly cranked in Steven’s head like the machinery in the Lighthouse as he realized it.

“Isaac. Do you own this place?”

He just grinned. “Place was abandoned for nearly a 100 years. No one spent the time to buy it, they were either too afraid of the _ alien _ presence, or were driven mad by the corrupted gem possessing it.”

“But we set it free!”

“Yeah well…it came back lurking around every once in a while. Only when you uncorrupted it did it finally find peace.

And it was then when I also found out that she was a friend. Mahogany Obsidian, but we always called her Mahogany. One of the earliest gem experiments, similar to Moonstone, and a member of the Crystal Gems…and a friend. Before it all went to shit.”

“Gem experiments?”

Isaac scoffed. “What, you think that forced gem fusion was the only gem experiments the Diamonds messed with?

No, no, no. That was Era 2.

Era 1, the Diamonds began experimenting with gem abilities. Shape shifting was good and all but the Diamonds wanted something more versatile and less situational. More powerful, perfect, serene. They believed that shape shifting was…undignified.

It’s why your Peridot has magnesis and mine doesn’t. Why Mahogany could use Possession and Telekinesis, when you’ve barely seen anything of that caliber. And it’s why Moonstone could manipulate matter and turn invisible…which let’s be honest, is still insane.”

Steven hesitated slightly, realizing that he had a big question to ask. “…Where is Moonstone?”

Isaac paused slightly, then sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “God, I wish I knew. She went missing since she…saved my life. I don’t know how she turned my heart into a red diamond but…

Well, I’m glad she brought me back.

I don’t feel that same love towards Rose, if you’re wondering.”

“I kind of figured.

I have another…kind of dark question if you don’t mind.”

Isaac took a deep inhale of breath and turned towards Steven, leaning on the table that housed the computer console. “This is about my father right?” He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “What’s your question?”

“What even happened?”

“Yet another thing I wish I knew. I’ve had a lot of time to put the pieces together. We burned his body a long time ago but…

Well I remember it, clear as day. His head was bashed in. They must have thought that destabilizing would work and when it didn’t…well they went a little overboard.

The prevailing theory that I have is that…maybe early on Pink Diamond sent some guards to monitor the Earth. Do some recon or something, maybe set up a kindergarten. They found a human who wasn’t keen on people trying to mess around with his home. They fought, and Odin got some licks in. He uh…”

He smiled softly. “He was always a good fighter like that. I remember seeing pieces of gem stones around his face, like the Aventurine shrapnel is in mine. Hell, maybe Odin killed an Aventurine. They always were seen as  _ warrior _ gemstones.

But it wasn’t enough. He lost. He  _ died. _

His last words to me were that he was proud.

He was…he was a good father.

When Rose came and said that they were fighting against Pink Diamond, it all clicked for me. These were the people that took my family away from me. It even clicked for my mom. The stakes were high. It wasn’t just about protecting the planet and my family.

It was about avenging my father.

But none of that mattered when the time came.

Pink Diamond may not have killed everyone I loved directly.

But as far as I’m concerned, she’s complicit.

She  _ knew. _

And if she didn’t, she  _ forgot _ . And I can’t tell you which is worse.”

Isaac saw the look on Steven’s face. Of complete horror and understanding, and he wondered if Steven was getting the wrong idea out of this.

“…I feel like I should say that once again, I’m not doing any of this for revenge.

The Diamonds have hurt too many people. Gems and humans alike. They’ve hurt friends, they’ve hurt family, but above all, they’ve hurt you and I.

I don’t care if they’ve changed. I can’t let them hurt anyone else ever again.

_ Ever.” _

Steven couldn’t stop himself from asking what he did next.

“If Rose was still here…if she was around, and you knew that she was Pink Diamond. The reason you lost everything…

Would you kill her?”

Isaac paused. Then he grimaced.

“Man, what do you want me to say? I would spare her because she is your mother? Because of the good that she did that I never got to see?

Steven I’m…I’m not like you. I can’t just forgive the harm, the hurt that someone has caused me. Especially if it robbed me of  _ everything _ . I don’t know if I would kill her. I would yell, I would scream, I would punch her, I would  _ cry. _

And when all is said and when all is done. Maybe I would kill her. God knows I want to. I’ve thought about it for centuries on end, recounting the ways I could do it.

But she isn’t here Steven. You are.

And I bear you no ill will.”

What could Steven say to that? He understood Isaac’s plight and issue, and this is not the first time someone has thought about killing his mother very publicly.

But this felt…odd. There was true anger in Isaac’s voice and a sense of true determination that he had never seen before from anyone.

This was someone who was hurting, but he’d been hurting for so long and had a long time to process it. Spinel spent 6000 years in the garden, thinking that Pink Diamond would come back. Pink Pearl spent 8000 years, with no sense of self, under the influence of a mad tyrant. They hadn’t had time to process that pain. That agony and suffering.

Isaac did. He’d spent five thousand years  _ fighting _ , facing his pain head on, as new challenges and suffering came his way. Everything that happened to him was because of the Diamonds. Because of Pink Diamond. And because of Rose Quartz.

For the first time in what was almost a day, Steven felt like he understood Isaac. For the first time in years, he realized that he wasn’t sure how he could help someone who was so…broken, like he was.

And for the first time in hours…

Steven found he had no more questions for Isaac.

Isaac seemed to notice this, so he took a seat, with a small smile. “Well, now that we’re done with that…I have some questions for you.”

Steven nodded, not saying a word, still possessing this haunted look in his eyes.

Isaac…he didn’t want to see that look. He had seen it in the mirror too many times.

So he started with something simple. “…What songs did you hear in my dream?”

Steven couldn’t help but smile softly. “In order?”

Isaac chuckled. “Sure.”

“Spinel sung a song in the garden about her sadness, then there was the one Greg sung at the concert-“

“Oh yeah, I remember that one, I was there.”

“You were  _ there?!” _

“What can I say, I’ve watched over you guys for a while. He’s cool!”

Now Steven was almost beaming. “Yeah…I guess he is.”

“Well, what else you got?”

“Right! I think the third one was a song Ruby and Sapphire sung-“

Isaac grinned. “That one I remember. Garnet told me about it. Sung it a few times too.”

“-There was the song Peridot and I sung. Then there was…I think this song from a band called Low Roar named  _ Don’t be so Serious _ ? Then there was  _ Trouble _ by Cage the Elephant? And a song called Ultimately? I didn’t know the last one. Honestly, I don’t know how you heard songs from the future.”

Isaac smirked. “Neither do I.” Then his look turned more grave. “And the piano song?”

Steven smiled. “Clair de Lune. It’s a…truly beautiful song you heard in there.” Then he beamed. “I can play it if you want! I learned it a bit early on in my life, I remember it…pretty well.”

And Isaac smiled. Really smiled. “Yeah…yeah sure! You play ukulele right?”

Steven nodded as Isaac started slowly taking out stuff from his hair. There was a gun, a blue sword, another gun, a torch, a Nintendo Switch, the head of a white faceless monster,  _ another _ gun, and then finally, a Ukulele.

He placed it against the monitor(Steven couldn’t help but notice that Pearl, Lars, and Connie were gone), and went to untie Steven. But as he went to do so…he paused. And clenched his fists.

“Steven. Can I trust you not to try and escape? Because man, I would not recommend it.”

Steven froze. Even he hadn’t considered that possibility. Could he escape? Did he want to escape?

The idea was that either Isaac would let him go or the others would save him. And…did he even want to escape?

No if…if he could help him…then that would mean something.

“You can trust me. I’m not…going anywhere just yet.”

Isaac took a deep breath, and went to untie the bonds. Steven stretched his arms and flexed them a bit, while Isaac went to grab the ukulele. He threw it to Steven, who caught it with a gasp. “Geez! Don’t  _ break _ it!”

He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I just…really want to hear this.”

Steven relaxed and began tuning the instrument while Isaac sat down and took a deep breath.

And then he started  [ playing ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncwyo5tP8jk) , and just like that, Isaac felt like he had left this world.

He only heard that song once in his life and yet it reminded him of home. It reminded him of the peace he felt with his family and friends. Of Frigg. Of Thrud. And of the gems he bonded with.

He thought of the memories beyond the war. Beyond his suffering and agony.

He thought of peace. And love. And hope, and happiness.

He thought of it all and he was…he was happy. As those strings strummed lightly, he was happy and at peace.

And when the song ended, he felt himself yearning for it to play again. He wanted to hear it over and over again and drown in that sound.

He didn’t even realize tears were streaming down his cheeks at that point. It didn’t even occur to him that Steven was trying to get his attention. When he snapped back to the world he was currently in he felt…

_ Hope. _

What he would not give to feel that again.

* * *

“Okay, yeah, he was definitely here.”

“For a while, geez, do you see this graffiti?”

“Whoa, hold on, Pearl can you read this?”

Pearl turned to look at the mural of Pink Diamond and gaped. It was covered in gem glyph and other miscellaneous graffiti.

Connie turned to her with wide eyes. “What does it say? I can only make out the first word that says…well, Pink.”

Pearl took a deep breath, trying to figure out if she should laugh or frantically try to destroy the “ _ art _ ”. 

“It’s uh…

Actually worse than all the vulgar language you said earlier.”

Lars snorted while Connie’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. “Okay, now I’m even more curious.”

“I won’t give you that much power.” Then she sighed and looked around. “Where could they have gone? The control center seemed to be active, but whatever data that was there is gone. There’s a new crater in the moon and-“

“Wait a second.” Lars pointed at something. “You guys see that?”

Lo and behold, in the corner of the room rested a small camera.

Connie scowled. “Cameras seem like a reoccurring thing for him, huh?”

Pearl nodded. “He always was obsessed with perception.”

Lars growled. “Regardless, how do we find him? We had a lead but now we have nothing! Pearl, is there anything you can give us?”

“…I don’t know. I’ve known him for thousands of years but the way I see it…we lost him when he turned pink. I remember seeing him after he lost everything and he was…doing something incomprehensible.”

Lars somehow immediately understood, and a dark look came into his eyes, as Pearl continued to tell her story. “He was one of my best friends, he was the reason I gave humanity a chance. But then he was gone and…for a while I was so angry with Rose, but what could have been done? He was gone. And then-“

Connie’s eyes went wide. “Wait a.minute. He’s pink right?”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “…Yeah?”

“We tried to find him the first time we went to Norway through Lion’s mane. But you’ve known him for centuries so if you went with us to find him then-“

Now Pearl’s eyes went wide. “-We can find him. That’s a great idea!”

Lars interrupted them with a slight cough. “Yeah, well before we do that, we should probably go back home before you guys get in my head.”

* * *

“-Okay, hang on, so that was the Cluster that saved you?

And hang on, what do you mean you crashed the car with Greg present?

And what about-“

Steven groaned but still had something of a smile left on his face. For someone whose been watching him for years and for someone whose been fighting in wars for ages…he sure was a bit of a dork.

“Hey, my life’s been all over the place for the past few years but it’s not as crazy as yours-“

Isaac immediately raised a hand. “Don’t even start man, my life has  _ been _ weird, but yours has been weird for the entire 25 years you’ve been alive!”

“26.”

“Still! Only reason my life’s weird is because I’ve been alive for five thousand years!” Isaac took a drink out of the chardonnay he’s been chugging while Steven took a drink out of his beer. He needed something to calm his nerves a bit.

He chuckled. “Well, what about you? You mentioned military work earlier but what else have you done?”

Isaac had this mischievous look. “Well, I’m actually the reason the government left you guys alone for a while.”

Steven’s eyes went wide and Isaac immediately continued. “Well, you guys weren’t exactly subtle in Beach City. So for a while the US government were going to send forces to take you in. But I had some connections so I walked my way into some…federal office and well…I explained to them the drastic nature of the situation and…they understood.”

Steven almost dropped his beer. “You threatened the White House?! The  _ president _ ?! Is that why the government was so reluctant to trust us?”

“Did I really threaten the President? Jeez, they all blend together after the last three hundred years. But Steven, they were going to come after you and probably put you in the deepest darkest hole imaginable. Maybe they’d do worse. Far far worse. But because of my threat, they gave you guys a chance. Now there are gems running for office. And they’re doing well! That’s been my style for a while. A wrong for a world of good. Not one good for a world of wrong.”

“Like Rose?”

“Yeah…but I guess…I don’t know what route she took. It sure does feel like the latter, but I never did see the rest of her life. Maybe the last few years of her life she found a chance to do something good. Maybe that was you. But I never knew that side of her.

You never knew that side of her.

I think there is only one person on this Earth that knew that side of her.”

Steven sat there in thought, taking another sip of his drink. Until he saw something…odd.

Pearl and Connie had stuck their head out of Isaac’s hair. Not their full bodies, just…their heads.

Steven’s eyes immediately went wide and found he had no words. “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-“

Pearl and Connie kept whispering and tried to beckon him, while Isaac looked at Steven with confusion. “What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?” He felt around his face and hair until he touched Connie’s face and she immediately slapped it away with a wince.

Isaac froze and then sighed. 

“ _ Oh _ .” 

He stood up and walked towards the railing as the two started screaming at Steven. “ **WHERE ARE YOU STEVEN?! YOU CAN TELL US AND WE CAN GET YOU OUT!** ”

Steven felt himself desperate to talk but he was…speechless.

Isaac only stepped on the railing with a sigh. “Just give me a second Steven.”

And he jumped.

Steven scrambled to his feet to see what happened but Isaac was already gone. Into a portal.

He didn’t know that above him, high in the sky, they were falling to the Earth at many miles an hour. That he called out to them saying that they shouldn’t have come. That they called back saying that they could help. He launched them to another portal, back to their home, and then at he landed back right behind Steven before he could figure out what to do with himself.

Steven looked back at him with wide and terrified eyes while Isaac had a dark look. “Alright Steven. Our time for talk is over.

Let’s go back to your friends.

I’m…sorry in advance.”

* * *

“-AAAAAAAAAH!”

Pearl and Connie were launched back into the beach house, out of Lars’ hair, with the entirety of the Crystal Gems. They immediately jumped to help, with Garnet immediately asking, “What happened?!”

Connie, still panting, tried to take a deep breath. “Isaac he…we went to his tree and we tried to get the drop on him and save Steven but he just teleported us thousands of miles in the sky and-oh god.”

Pearl sighed. “He…was ten steps ahead of us again. I couldn’t find out where he was.”

Spinel instantly looked like she wanted to hit something. Lars too. But then Connie jumped up starting to breathe, just a little. “No wait. There was a railing and-it was a tall building. It was like a spiral staircase. And he’s got to be close right? And there are not that many buildings that have that staircase so-“

Lars’ eyes went wide. “The lighthouse. Son of a bitch, he’s at the lighthouse I spent so many years at. God okay, so we make a move and we hit him right there, and we take Steven by for-“

“No need.”

Every single person turned to the source of the voice and saw

Isaac.

Isaac Baldur Sterling.

Standing at the warp pad, pointing a gun straight to Steven’s head.

He chuckled at their shocked faces. “Why look so shocked? I told you I’d bring him back.

You guys are  _ very _ smart. You’ve all come a long way in the past few thousand years. Now you’re…a team! It’s great, really.

Well, you guys wanted to talk right? That’s what you do with all your enemies right? You talk things out?

So let’s talk.

We all have a  _ lot _ to discuss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, after today's SU episodes, I almost forgot to post today's chapter.   
> God that was fucking brutal.   
> But anyways, this chapter is sort of an in between chapter that bridges the last chapter and the next one. And sorry if the mentions of music seemed a little forced, but they do serve a purpose. All of them do. They work as teasing for Isaac's arc and are just good mood songs for the character. This chapter was good because we got to see who Isaac was behind the veil. He is someone who is hurting deeply and someone who even as a young lad was dealing with massive anxiety and mental health issues. The extent of his problems will become known throughout the story, but he is someone who is inches away from just completely losing it. Having been in a dire situation like this, I was really excited to write his character. And after today's episode, now more than ever, it feels appropriate for this story. Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to explain why I love Isaac.   
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and please leave a comment if you can! See you guys next friday!


	15. The Berserker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation between old friends and new enemies.

“Okay, so you guys want anything? I’m a pretty decent cook and drinks maker.”

Isaac was dragging Steven’s chair with a leash while he had the most deadpan look the gems had ever seen.

Garnet had a dark look. “With all due respect Isaac, why do you want to talk?”

Isaac scoffed. “Is it so shocking that I want to talk things out? Come on Garnet, you know me better than that!”

Amethyst groaned. “Why, is it because you like to hear yourself talk?”

Steven sighed. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to antagonize the person who wants to talk things out and who has been a friend of the Crystal Gems for a long time. Oh and the person who can disable our powers at any tim-“

Lars groaned. “I think we get it Steven.” Then he smiled lightly. “I’m glad to see you back though.”

Before Steven could respond, Isaac put out a couple of bottles of beer and coffee on the counter. “So, I see a lot of people here that I haven’t seen in a while or ever. Bismuth you…you are alive. All those years I was told you died, and yet…here you are. Even after all the times I saw you over camera I still can’t believe it.”

Bismuth hesitated. She looked at the beer on the table. She thought of the times she and Baldur would share a beer together. She thought of the times they would arm wrestle and geek out about old weapon making techniques. She thought of their friendship.

So she hesitantly took the bottle of beer and raised it towards Isaac. “You…You’ve changed a lot right?”

“Of course I have. Wouldn’t you? Isn’t what happened what caused you to make the breaking point? I’m sorry it led to all of this but…you changed too. All of you have changed in your own ways. Not because of Pink or Rose or anyone else. You changed you.

Not…Not her.”

Pearl stepped forward and grabbed a cup of coffee. “After all these years you still hate her?”

“I can’t move on Pearl. I can’t. She took  _ everything _ from me. Everything. and I can’t stand for it. You know me better than that. So let’s talk.”

Connie took a step and grabbed a beer. She took a sip and sighed. “You always did make good drinks. Even on Eden 7. Remember that?”

Isaac chuckled. “Vividly. The terrain was tough and difficult, we had to camp inside of a tree. So to cope, I made everyone beer using tree sap. And everyone claimed it was the best beer they had ever tasted. They were wrong of cou-“

Lapis grabbed the beer and took a sip. “Well, clearly they weren’t. You nailed the quality.”

Soon everyone began to slowly step forward and grab a drink, except for Steven, Garnet, and Amethyst, the final two staying at the back of the crowd. People talked and talked, and even Steven began to join in.

But Isaac, despite most of this being his idea, felt remarkably vulnerable and anxious. Being here in front of all of these people that ruined his life and some people he’s never seen before just…scared him. He thought about gripping his gun just a bit but…he thought it unwise.

Oddly enough though, the person that noticed his discontent first was Spinel. She threw a beer in his direction and

It shattered and sprayed right across his face.

Everyone looked at each other in horror and awe as Isaac just wiped the glass and beer from his face. They expected the worst until Isaac snorted.

“Oh my god-

Okay, that was-“

He just keeled over and started laughing. “Jeez, I heard that Spinels were funny but oh my  _ god _ !”

Spinel had this prideful grin and soon everyone else started laughing. But still, Garnet and Amethyst were unconvinced.

Isaac smirked as he tried to calm down. “Ah man, I gotta get to know you guys better.”

Volleyball had a small smile. “Likewise.”

Amethyst groaned. “And especially why you want to destroy the Crystal Gems.“

Pearl tried to stop her before she could say it, but as she finished saying it, Isaac stopped dead. There was an eerie silence until Isaac scowled. “You didn’t tell them? After all these years you didn’t tell them?”

Pearl now looked terrified. “Isaac I-“

“I thought the secrets died with Rose. Did anyone here know who I was before Pearl told you?”

Silence.

Isaac started laughing in disbelief. “You are joking. After all this time, after all I did for you-“ He clenched his fists. “Did it not matter? Any of it? Everything I did. I mean, it’s one thing not to tell Steven, he’s a goddamn kid! But the rest?

Rose lied to me about Bismuth, about my Father, I…” He paused. And then pointed at Pearl. “Did you know? Did you know Pink Diamond killed my Father?”

Silence again.

Isaac pulled out his gun and pointed it straight at Pearl’s gem. “ **TELL ME!** ”

Everyone immediately drew their swords and weaponry and pointed it straight at Isaac Sterling. He just laughed. “Oh I shouldn’t be surprised you didn’t trust me for even a second. Did you ever even care about me?

I mean, Garnet and Amethyst sure didn’t. I mean, Amethyst is the Queen of judging from first sight, and Garnet damn near killed me so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

He looked right at Garnet with a grin. “Come on, I was never significant enough to matter in your world view. I mean even when I joined. You and your future vision, outlining everything that’s going to happen before it does. Let me guess, you knew I’d turn? Or did you know you’d try and kill me? All those times I stuck my neck out for you, I guess it never mattered.”

Isaac had a crazed grin. “Oh, this is rich. The one time I try to talk things out it never matters. Nothing ever matters with you Crystal Gems. You pledge your life to a creed meant to go against the most evil beings in the universe and then that creed…oh that creed becomes worthless. Built off of nothing but lies, deceit, and  _ pain _ .”

“ **ENOUGH!** ”

For a brief second, pink sparks sizzled through the air. Isaac saw them and went straight into panic mode and grabbed at the sparks before they could set anything ablaze. But then he looked at their source and saw Steven. Fuming.

“Look, guys, Isaac came here to talk things out. And he’s just as much a victim of circumstance and the past as we all are. The only way we can help and end… _ Ragnarok _ is by talking.

And…Isaac was your friend! We can’t just abandon him like this!”

Isaac scoffed. “I’m doing fine!”

“No, you’re not.”

That was Spinel.

“I’ve seen that look of despair and pain in your eyes before. I’ve been there Isaac. And you don’t deserve to be where I was. It isn’t fair.”

Pearl stepped forward and there were…tears in her eyes. “Isaac…we let you down. We ruined your life and took everything away from you. And I am willing to do anything to make that right.”

Isaac looked stunned for.a moment but he wasn’t particularly convinced. But what caused him to put the gun away was the faint look in Garnet’s eyes. It wasn’t one of anger or resentment…

It was of sorrow and regret.

That shook Isaac to his core. So he uncocked his gun and put it back in his holster.

He looked around vaguely and sighed. “Can I trust you? All of you?”

Slowly, everyone began to nod. But then Isaac pointed at Garnet. “You. Can I trust you?”

And Garnet sighed. “I already hurt you once. I don’t want to do it again.”

Isaac finally sighed. “Okay. Well…let’s talk then. I’ll make some more drinks. You guys better get comfortable.”

He grinned. “Oh, and if you try to fight back…I  _ will _ kill you.”

Everyone looked at each other until Steven rolled over in his chair and looked at everyone. Volleyball looked around with a soft look. “What happens now?”

Steven looked up at Pearl with a dark look and soon, she spoke. “Now? We listen.”

* * *

“We haven’t heard from him in hours.”

“Does it really take that long to talk with the Gems? With Steven?”

“You know what’s at stake, of course he’s taking a while.”

“Why is he even talking with him? Don’t tell me he’s gone soft.”

“Lucius, you can’t be serious. This is about more than going soft. Isaac, he’s…”

At that, Oscar found himself at a loss of words. Even Weimar was unsure what to say. He’d known Isaac for centuries but he was still unsure what he was going for.

Lucius was about to brag, but then another masked and hooded figure stepped up. “Because he’s coping.”

It was Crescent. “Look, you guys have known him for a while but I know him…really well. In the end, he doesn’t want to declare war on his former friends. He’s trying to figure out if there is another way but…knowing him he may not get the answers he wants.

I mean come on, for the past few millennia he’s wanted nothing more than resolution. Of course he’s going to go straight to their doorstep to get to the bottom of his feelings. To meet Steven and make amends with the others.

We all have our jobs to do. Keep hitting select targets to stir up unrest and start some tremors. Then we take the fight to the Diamonds.” She drew her twin bladed sword from seemingly nowhere. “And you would do well to remember that.”

But then she grinned. They all grinned. And they all started laughing.

When threats meant nothing to the crew of the Naglfari, it meant that they were all united. Crescent took that as a good sign of morale.

They all went back to their stations, while Crescent stood there with Weimar. He turned to her with a sly grin. “So how’s that Legend game treating you?”

Crescent groaned. “Don’t even get me started on that. It’s so difficult! I don’t understand how Isaac beat it without dying once!”

“He’s had a lot of practice! Took him a lot of time, but it is his favorite game of all time.”

Crescent pouted. “I guess.”

There was an awkward silence until she spoke up again. “Do you think he’s going to be okay?”

And Weimar sighed. “I don’t know. But gods, I hope so.”

* * *

“What do you mean you proposed to Connie when you were eighteen years old? And she was, what, 17?”

Both Steven and Connie chuckled awkwardly. The former spoke first. “Yeah that sure was…a time for me. I was so depressed that I thought that marrying her so that we’d be together for a while would be a good idea. She understandably refused and needed her space but…”

Isaac looked between them and immediately understood the predicament. “Ah. Nail in the coffin right? No worries.” He took another sip of his beer, it was almost dusk anyways, so it was definitely beer time, and smiled softly. “So, I assume that is when shit hit the fan and you guys took some time away from each other after Steven…got better.”

Connie nodded. “Yeah. It took some time to piece things back together but…” She smiled. “We figured it out.” Then she blushed. “And to be fair, I still want to marry at some point…it was just a bad time.”

“Totally understandable.” Isaac grinned. “You have to take your time with that stuff.”

They were all sitting around the Temple, all drinking different drinks. It was dusk out, almost a full day since the first attack.

Volleyball looked towards Isaac curiously. “Did you ever get that chance for love in the past few centuries?”

Isaac paused. At that moment, Volleyball realized the gravity of what she asked and tried to backpedal but he spoke first. “No…I guess I didn’t. Maybe I tried but…after the second time I watched the person I love die, I gave up. You guys are lucky in that aspect. You get to live forever. You get to love forever.”

Peridot scoffed. “We still have to worry about death.”

Isaac deadpanned, “No, you don’t. You guys are hard to kill. You get hit with a fatal wound, and even then, you poof. You get a chance to heal, to change. And then you come back better than ever. Even if you get shattered or _ corrupted _ you can still live thanks to Steven’s Diamond juice.”

Steven groaned. “Please never ever call it diamond juice.”

“Look, you get my point.”

Amethyst sighed. Most of the original Crystal Gems have been fairly quiet. No one really knew why. They just processed everything that happened quietly and at times let the guilt consume them. When the time came to finally tell the story of how he lost everything, everyone cried. There was yelling. Anger. But the original Crystal Gems found they had no words.

Everyone thought it was because they had no more tears to shed, because they were  _ there _ . But the real reason was because it felt wrong to say anything after all these years. They wanted a one on one chance to make things right and…

This didn’t feel like the time.

But Amethyst…she didn’t have a reference. She kept asking and asking and asking questions because at times she was as frustrated as Steven. This kept happening and if this was one of the original Crystal Gems, she wanted to know what changed.

“You’ve told us pieces of your story. But why are you really doing this?”

Isaac paused. He took a giant swig of his beer and then pulled something out of his hair and threw it to the ground.

Rose’s picture.

Everyone gasped at the sight, Steven included, and he desperately tried to struggle out of his bonds.

“Look at her. Smiling as if nothing happened, closing her eyes as if she is above all of us. We’ve all been at her whim for thousands of years. All of us. Steven more than most.” He chuckled and stared right at Pearl. “You can’t tell me it doesn’t bother you, Pearl. His entire childhood was robbed by her and she wasn’t even here to answer for her crimes. She kept secrets from you and made you keep secrets from everyone you loved.”

He gestured around the room. “Every single person here has been personally victimized by either Rose or a Diamond. I can go down the list but I’m pretty sure I don’t need to. And if you think about it…it all connects back to them. White, Blue, and Yellow abused Pink. They kept her trapped in a tower if she ever did anything unsatisfactory, they emotionally used her…but because of Pink’s desperation, she became almost as bad as them. She crafted weapons to destroy worlds, she almost destroyed Volleyball, she left Spinel behind, and she killed  **_MY FATHER!_ ** ”

Both Volleyball and Spinel had their eyes downcast while everyone looked on in shock. “I have  _ nothing _ ! All because of this endless cycle of abuse and agony the Diamonds have caused! A cycle of abuse you nearly fell into!” He pointed right at Steven who was looking up at him with a dark look. “I mean come on, for years Steven was constantly worrying about your problems and issues, and no one cared about his! And he  _ corrupted _ because of it and nearly ended everything! All because of  **_her_ ** .”

“And it  _ isn’t _ your fault, it was just that because of those in charge, you guys had so many problems in the first place! And do you really think there aren’t more people out there? That hate the Diamonds? That  _ hated _ Pink?

No. There are thousands of gems out there whose lives were ruined by them that are still out there. What if the Zircon that got poofed by Yellow decided to start an armed uprising? What about the Cluster who  _ still _ hates the Diamonds and is currently resting at the core of the world? Or how about the gems who are still indoctrinated into their ways of thinking? Bluebird, Pyrope, Demantoid, and those are just the ones I remember! You think they’ll stop? There are  _ still _ extremists out there dedicated to wiping this planet off the face of the Earth because of  _ her! _ ”

Everyone was on edge, tense because of what was happening. A bright red anger was surging through Isaac’s body and nothing could stop it.

“So how do we stop it?! How do we stop this?

By destroying the Diamonds.”

Lars stepped forward, a scowl on his face. “You mean to start a war?! To undo the entire Homeworld government?”

“Oh and what has their government done for us? Even now, it’s not the Homeworld government that has been reuniting the universe. It’s been Steven! For millennia they have been a tyrannical force of nature, and they still cling to old habits! The reason we were even on Eden 7 was because we were cleaning up their mess! With them gone, new leaders could take their place! It doesn’t even have to be you guys, it could be others more capable! There are dozens of good gems out there and-“

Pearl shouted, “Revenge isn’t the answer Baldur!”

“ **REVENGE IS ALL I HAVE LEFT!** ”

Isaac slammed down on the counter, leaving a slight crack in it, as everyone gasped. Tears were threatening to break out of his eyes. “I’ve spent five thousand years wandering the planet and beyond, trying to see if I had a purpose. But I don’t. I have nothing left. This is it, I…I won’t watch another Era break out in tragedy. I saw my mother die in front of me all because of Rose and I won’t watch more people I care about die. Because Steven…

What happens when you die?”

Silence. An eerie, almost loud silence.

“When you die Steven…the Diamonds will relapse. That’s what they always do. And I will not let that happen.”

He took a deep sigh and took out his gun, pointing it at the gems. Everyone staggered back and went to pull out their weapons…but they couldn’t.

No one could take out their weapons, or use their gem abilities. Spinel couldn’t even stretch. The only people that could do something were Connie and Lars and they were standing there with wide eyes. The former had her sword, but the latter didn’t even have a weapon.

Steven noticed it first, the faint glowing on their gems. He looked to Isaac with a scowl. “When did you do it huh?! When did you sap their powers?!”

Isaac grinned. “Please, you think I tried to start an argument with Garnet earlier for nothing? Of course I used it to my advantage.” His smile faltered. “All this time Steven, I’ve struggled with my purpose. I’m supposed to be dead. Wiped off the face of the Earth, never to be remembered.”

For the first time, Amethyst felt some sense of sympathy towards him. Everyone did.

And that’s what scared them the most.

Isaac had this dark look. “But I am still here. And I intend to make things right.”

He quickly drew his gun and fired

Three shots into Rose’s painting. The painting shattered and cracked and the image was almost ripped to shreds. Everyone gasped and wanted to step in but…they found they couldn’t move. They were paralyzed out of fear.

Even Pearl was too stunned to move.

Isaac growled and shouted. “ **WHY IS IT THAT EVEN HER DAMN PICTURE WON’T GO?!** ”

He grabbed it and started animalistically ripping it apart, leaving nothing left except shreds of paper tattered across the ground. Isaac looked on the verge of tears, and at that moment Steven fully realized that revenge was absolutely  _ not _ the best route for him to take, but he steeled himself and continued to speak.

“The only way to end the cycle of violence once and for all is with one final act of violence. To end it.

And I won’t let anything stand in the way of this final goal of mine.”

At that moment, Connie felt an incomprehensible anger consume her. It consumed Steven too. This shouldn’t be happening. Isaac was just as much a victim as anybody and he didn’t deserve this. But someone had to stop them. And it was only them left.

They both looked at each other and nodded. A mutual bond of trust. Even Lars was on board.

But Isaac wasn’t an idiot. He’d seen enough armed revolutions start from nods in the past, so when Connie stepped in front of the gems with a scowl, he was already ready for something to happen.

“Isaac. You…you don’t deserve the hand you’ve been dealt. And I’m sorry.”

She wrapped a metal cuffing around her arm, creating a pseudo armor around her body. “But I can’t let you do this.”

Isaac didn’t respond. He just smirked. “Hey Connie…remember those speed drills we used to do?”

Connie’s eyes went wide as Isaac raised his gun and spun the barrel of the revolver. “Let’s see if you’ve lost practice or not.”

She dashed forward, screaming with her sword raised as Isaac quickly cycled through the chambers.

Click

Click

Click

Connie had dashed forward and clashed her sword with Isaac’s gun, but sparks flew as if he was using his gun as a sword. Isaac was grinning. “Very good! You haven’t forgotten what you learned! Good to know that Pearl’s been keeping you straight.”

“You helped too.”

“Doubtful. Then maybe you would’ve better prepared for the opening you are giving me.

Steven was scrambling now to get out of the bondages, and now all of the gems (and Lars) were trying to get him out. It was difficult without any sort of gem powers, which led to a lot of arguing, but they were doing their best.

And then

A gunshot went off.

Then another. And another. All in quick succession.

Steven and the other gems looked at Isaac and Connie, fearing the worst.

The gunshots had just  _ barely _ pierced the armor but caused little to no damage. Connie was staggered back, but she was okay.

She was okay.

But Isaac was grinning.

At that moment it all clicked.

Isaac could have killed them all at any time.

If Isaac didn’t want to kill them…

What was his plan?

Isaac chuckled. “Thank god that armor is strong! What is that, hardlight armor? Classic. Just what I expect from Steven’s Knight.”

Connie looked up with a scowl. “You know me. I’m more than that!”

“Are you? I mean you instantly went to defend him the moment things went bad.”

Connie screamed and charged him, swinging her sword wildly. Isaac held out his hand for a second but before his object could be recalled, Connie once again stabbed him right in the chest.

Everyone gasped and froze in horror at the pink blood seeping out of his chest. Even Steven was stunned to silence. Lars was the only one who kept moving, desperately trying to untie Steven from his bonds, getting closer than ever.

Regret flashed across her eyes for just a second, but it was overpowered by determination. “You dare come here, trying to start a war and yet pretend you’re our friends?! You could leave this all behind, but no, you  _ chose _ to come here! You won’t get any sympathy from me!”

Isaac sneered and leaned in close. He kept a tight grip on the sword, to the point where Connie could not let go even if she wanted to.

“Are you sure? I can still see where the tears were shed from my tale of woe. Look at us. All of us here, products of the Diamonds’ mistakes. You are a part of this too you know? You chose to become involved in Steven’s life. Chose to become a part of his universe. You chose to train in sword fighting, you chose to nearly die time and time again, instead of living a good life. A happy life. A  _ safe _ lif-”

“My life is better with him in it!”

“Maybe it is.

But how often does what White Diamond did to Steven keep you up at night?”

Connie wavered. They all wavered. Steven especially.

Isaac looked at them with a grin. “ _ Oh _ …you didn’t tell them?  _ Wow _ . You didn’t tell them how White Diamond, in her desperate attempt to bring Pink back, pulled out Steven’s gem?

How he was left a sputtering dying mess as you held him in your arms? How a new, Pink Steven spawned, destroying everything in his path. How his only words were a declaration that Pink was dead?

I mean, all of you were controlled so I don’t expect you to remember. But I do.” He looked at Connie dead in the eyes. “And I’m pretty sure you do too. I remembered how at any moment, you and Steven could have died because of White?”

He smirked, turning from Connie to the stunned gems. “How  _ you _ could have killed the both of them, and not have remembered at all?”

His voice turned cold as he turned back to Connie, who was starting to lose her fire. “How many times have you thought about marching up to Homeworld and shattering White for what she did? Don’t pretend you don’t see where I am coming from.

You’ve thought about it every day. That’s why you spent so long away from Steven, why you took out your anger by joining a war.”

Connie was breathing hastily, everyone was frozen, Steven was on the verge of tears, while Lars was barely listening. He was using his knife to cut the blade muttering, “Come on, come on, we’re so close!”

Isaac chuckled. “‘ _ Life and death and love and birth and peace and love on the planet earth. _ ’ Weren’t those your words Steven? Peridot? A lovely and beautiful sentiment. But you forget what this entire war, this entire conflict, was built on. What Spinel felt after she was betrayed, what Steven felt when he had nothing left, what Connie felt at the injustice dealt.

Anger.

One of the oldest emotions of mankind. I’m just seeing it through one last time.

So I guess in a way you’re right, Connie. I am here of my own will. But so are you. Which means that you can’t fight against what comes next.”

And then he looked at the Crystal Gems with dead, rotted eyes. “Because you are just as responsible as I am.”

Connie’s hands were shaking manically and her grip on the sword loosened. But meanwhile, Lars had finally cut through the knot. “Finally!”

Steven couldn’t move though. Nobody could.

Isaac saw this and sighed, looking at Connie. “Sorry about that but…I needed a way to end the fight easily.”

He  _ grabbed _ the sword Connie was attached and threw them halfway across the room. She slammed against the door to Rose’s room, groaning in pain.

Steven felt that red hot anger consume him once again and he finally got up and threw his shield at Isaac like he was a superhero!

But Isaac caught it and had this eerie grin of a supervillain. “Impressive trick.” His gauntlet began to glow a bright pink. “I’ll have to write that down.”

Steven stood there in shock as the other gems gave into their base emotion: anger.

But Isaac knew that emotion better than anyone else on the planet. In the galaxy even. He was ready.

He threw his shield straight at the charging Bismuth, causing her to stagger backwards to the ground. Amethyst tried to lasso him but

Well, Isaac caught it. Amethyst just muttered out a low, “Whoa.” And he grinned.

“That’s it? That’s the extent of your quips? Come on, you could come up with better!”

Lapis summoned water from the kitchen sink and hastily tried to drown Isaac. But nothing happened. He just coughed lightly. “You think a dead man cares about drowning?”

Amethyst grinned, trying to pry the whip from Isaac’s hand. “Oh yeah?! Well you  _ are _ going to care after we pound you into the ground! Into the…the…the  **MARLIN TRENCH!** ”

A brief silence. Pearl, who was trying to sneak up on Isaac, silently facepalmed. Isaac just snorted. “Oh man, that’s much better.”

He used his full strength and swung Amethyst around like a pendulum, catching both Lapis, and Bismuth in the swing and he  _ threw _ them both through the wall, outside onto the beach.

Isaac huffed and puffed, but before he could recover, metal pieces were thrown at him and began to coil around him. He growled. “Peridot!”

She was wrapping the metal around him while Garnet charged up the metal with electricity, binding it to Isaac’s flesh. Peridot laughed maniacally. “Take that, you immortal clod!”

Isaac groaned in pain, glaring at Garnet all the while. “You just can’t help yourself can you? Distrusting others despite them trying to change. What made Bluebird different?”

Garnet kept her hold on the shackles. “I tried trusting people  _ because of you! _ ”

That nearly stopped Isaac dead. “I don’t believe you.”

She kept struggling, shouting, “It’s true! I never wanted anything bad to happen to you but after I let you down, I did everything in my power to hold my future vision back. Especially when I raised Steven! I changed because of the both of you! Now please! Let us help you!”

Isaac hesitated, and for the first time, he felt his fire calm down just a bit. But then he saw that his hand was just barely sticking out. And he remembered what Garnet did to him all those years ago.

So he opened up the palm of his hand. “I’m sorry. But whatever you did you did. You do what you have to do now. And I’ll do what I have to.”

Garnet immediately went into panic mode, but she couldn’t move. She turned to Steven and shouted out to Pearl. “Guys! You have to make sure Isaac’s sword doesn’t get back to him by any means necessary!”

Steven and the newly awoken and sore Connie looked at each other and nodded. Even Lars and Spinel stepped in, all running to Isaac’s side and desperately trying to close his hand. Isaac was grinning all the while.

“Come on! You can use more of your strength than that! Add a little more oomph to it!”

Everyone was struggling to close his hand. Even Steven, with his recovering abilities, was struggling to close his hand. Spinel was desperately trying to  _ rip _ Isaac’s arm off, but her stretching powers were malfunctioning. Nothing was working. And eventually, Isaac had this sinister grin. “Oops. Too late.”

Suddenly, another hole in the wall was made as Isaac’s sword was called back to his hand, knocking the three humans back into the walls. Isaac used Hofund to begin carving through his shackles, and even through Garnet and Peridot’s struggling, with Spinel trying to keep her hold on the bondings, their weakened powers were quickly outclassed, and the metal exploded outwards and threw Garnet and Spinel backwards through the wall, out onto the beach.

Peridot held steady though, hands held high as she started to call forth metal to use as her own personal javelin. “Hah! It’ll take more than that to stop me, the great and lovable  **PERID-AGH!** ”

A powerful electric shock blasted through Peridot, destabilizing her and poofing and dropping her gem in a shocked Isaac’s hand. “I…what?”

He had grabbed Peridot with his gauntlets and-

Gauntlets.

_ Garnet. _

“I took Garnet’s powers?! Cool!” He looked at Peridot’s gem in his hand. “Oh. Sorry, Peridot. You’ll feel better in a day or so. I wonder if I can-“ 

His attempt of recreating a traditional crystal gem bubble was thwarted as a giant water spear pierced his chest. He dropped Peridot’s gem and looked at the weapon in question. “Ah. I guess I did a bad thing then-“

Lapis charged in through the broken wall, unleashing a torrent of other spears right at Isaac. They hit his head, his chest, his arms and legs, and he staggered backwards as Lapis began to choke the life out of him. “How dare you?! How dare you hurt my wife?!”

Isaac groaned as he felt the water in his lungs and organs begin to rip him apart. “I’m sorry! I hate dividing lovers but you guys nearly destroyed-agh, my home! You’ve changed, sure. And no one is angry at you. In fact, after what Bismuth and the Diamonds did, I tried to break you out of that mirror every chance I could get!”

Lapis froze in horror. “What? Wh-what did Bismuth do?”

Isaac froze. Then he chuckled awkwardly. “Oops.”

He kicked Lapis back in her stupor, and before she could recover, he grabbed his sword, and threw it like a javelin straight at Lapis’ head, bolting her to a wall, and poofing her gem instantly.

Isaac huffed, took a deep breath, and screamed, “ **ANYONE ELSE WANT TO GO?! COME ON!** ”

“I do!”

“Huh- **OH SHIT!** ”

Isaac spun around and came face to face with a drill. He raised his hands up and blocked it, and while it cut into his skin and started to push him backwards towards the wall, it wasn’t enough to take him out of the fight. He tentatively lowered his arms, but instantly, a new fusion pulled him in with some kind of…rope? She grabbed and pulled and threw him into the temple, slamming him against yet another wall, this one underneath Steven’s bed.

Isaac hastily recovered up from the ground and looked at the attacker, and grinned. “Ah! The great ‘ _ Royal Pearl _ ’! A pleasure to  _ finally _ meet you.”

Royal Pearl, with her royal cape and crown, just responded with a scowl and decked Isaac in the face. “Ow.”

Royal summoned her drill sword, while Isaac grinned and summoned his own blade. “After all these years…let’s see how much of your training you’ve retained, Pearl.”

They dashed at each other, swords clashing and sparks flying, their anger colliding together in a sight for all to see. The two were screaming in rage as both Steven and Connie pulled themselves off the ground. Steven looked at Connie and immediately tried to go to her. “Are you okay?”

Connie nodded. “I’m fine. My head is killing me though.” She looked at the ongoing sword fight. “This…this is insanity. Did…did I do this?”

“What…what do you mean?”

“I drew my sword on him and because of that, he’s fighting and…” Connie looked at the unconscious Lars and quivered. “And now he’s started a war.”

Steven looked toward the fighting duo and sighed. “Something tells me this was going to happen regardless of what we did.” He helped Connie get up on her feet. “Come on, we need to get ready in case Royal Pearl loses.”

They tried to recollect their weapons as Royal Pearl was pushed backwards by the force of Isaac’s sword. He was grinning. “So much fight huh?! That would have been soooo useful in saving my family all those years ago!”

Royal growled. “You know Pearl  _ tried _ Isaac! She did everything in her power to save her family but she was focused on protecting-“

“Rose?! The person who wronged the both of you! Why do you refuse to hate them, you of all people should understand why I’m doing this! You aren’t above this goddammit, do something!”

“What would you have me do!? I can’t just declare war on a government that has gotten better! People on Earth have changed, gems have changed! Homeworld has changed and I have seen the good in people! If you do this, you will create chaos an-and people will die!”

Isaac grinned and started to laugh maniacally. “No thanks! Perhaps I will take a page out of Rose’s book and use a drastic example to shake things up a bit!”

He made his body slightly limp and let Royal thrust her sword forward. Isaac dodged it with ease and steeled his body upwards and swung his sword upwards. Royal’s drill phased out of existence and her arm was just barely cut off. Slowly, the two parts of the fusion were launched back into their base forms.

Volleyball grabbed her arm in pain as it started to destabilize while Pearl looked up at Isaac, staring deep into his dead, haunted eyes, in horror,. “Why-why are you doing this?! You can stop this now, you don’t have to hurt anyone!”

Volleyball however, screamed out for the first time in anger. “You’re insane! You intend to kill us all!”

Isaac grinned an eerie grin. “Wouldn’t you be insane too? Five thousand years in pain, left only with anger, agony, and pain? Oh Volleyball, you were lost for 8000 years in the dark, with no memory of the injustice you were dealt. And Pearl, so full of love and compassion like your  _ son _ .”

Pearl had wide eyes. “What?”

Isaac stepped closer. “Haven’t you realized it yet? Rose Quartz was a horrible person, who died before she could be a mother, before she could really show how good of a person she could have been. Because to put it simply, she would have been a terrible mother.  _ You’re _ his mother. And you can’t tell me that fact doesn’t haunt you. You’re a good mother but you’re just as much in Rose’s shadow as  _ he _ is. Both of you are.

And you’re angry. Don’t hide from it, I’m an expert in the emotion.

You wanted to tear that photo down as much as I did. So let me offer some words of comfort:

Pearl, you’re a far better mother than Rose ever would have been.

And Volleyball, you have gotten better. You have changed. Adapted. Evolved.

So have I.

Which is why I intend to take that anger to the bank.

And destroy the ones that have wronged us.”

Isaac started to laugh maniacally. “I’m going to burn it all down Pearl. Do you hear me?!  **THAT BITCH TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! NOW I’M GOING TO TAKE IT ALL BACK!** ”

Suddenly, before he could make another move, a giant arm blasted through the floor of the temple and dragged him down as he laughed.

Steven and Connie looked on in shock, holding and bubbling as many of the damaged gems as they could. They quickly ran to the two Pearls in horror, Steven reaching his “mother” first. “Pearl! Are you okay?!”

Pearl sighed deeply. She was frantically shaking. “Isaac, he’s…he’s lost it. I’ve never seen him so enraged and…oh my stars, we did this to him!” She was starting to sob, but Steven immediately hugged her.

“It’s going to be okay, we’re going to figure this out.”

Steven could faintly hear Connie trying to comfort Volleyball, her arm now finally stable, but at the moment, she didn’t care. He could see Pearl’s distress as she spoke softly. “Did…did you hear what he said?”

“I did.” Steven couldn’t help but smile. “And for once, he’s right.”

And Pearl smiled back. A genuinely full and true smile.

Connie nudged Steven slightly. “Hey, we need to get back out there. Garnet and Spinel might need our help soon.”

Steven’s eyes went wide. “ **THAT WAS GARNET AND SPINEL?!** ”

“Giant arms and a bombardment of colors? It sure did look like it.” She turned to Pearl and Volleyball with a certain  _ look _ . “Can you guys make sure that the house doesn’t collapse and that everyone is okay?”

The two nodded, and Steven and Connie sprang into action.

Meanwhile, Bismuth, Amethyst, and a new fusion were trying to keep Isaac at bay, but like a bat out of hell, he fought back. Using his rage as if it was a physical force of nature.

Amethyst and Bismuth tried to shackle him down, but he kept struggling and struggling. The latter spoke desperately. “Isaac please! Don’t do this! You’re a good man, a good person! You don’t have to do this!”

Even Amethyst spoke with a sense of urgency and care. “Yeah dude, you can just step back and forget this ever happened!”

Isaac was now really starting to lose it. “Easy for you both to say! You guys were barely present for Rose’s conflict! You didn’t even see the war Amethyst! And Rose took you off the board long ago!

Don’t you get it?! We’re _ cursed _ . Cursed to be their puppets, their playthings in a sandbox. It’s almost funny if you think about it.”

Bismuth started to place a deadly headlock on Isaac. He grinned. “What are you going to do, snap my neck? You think I haven’t tried that before?”

She growled. “What is wrong with you?! What happened to the warrior I would spar with, the friend whose sword I crafted lovingly, the hero who freed Gamma?!”

“ **_HE DIED! HE WAS CORRUPTED BY A PLAGUE, A DARKNESS ROSE BROUGHT ON US ALL! I INTEND TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT!_ ** ”

Two gunshots fired off. Bismuth and Amethyst staggered back in horror, feeling their forms begin to dissipate as Isaac turned to face both of them. “I won’t shatter you.” He cricked his neck. “But you needed to be taught a lesson.”

The two of them poofed, but before Isaac could take even a second to breathe, he was dragged back into a mountain cliff. The fusion, Tourmaline, with her long arms and mix of pink and purple, with her ace mask and her tall stature, started clobbering him. She drew blood, flesh, and caused stalactites to pierce his chest. Isaac was now howling with laughter while Tourmaline responded with a cold smirk. “Isaac! Let me in on the joke why don’t ya? That way, the  _ readers _ can understand why your attitude is changing so much! How you went from the benevolent former soldier to the sad-sack victim to the psychopath that would make even Spinel terrified!”

Isaac kept laughing. “Ah Tourmaline! I thought  _ you’d _ be  _ nice _ , considering your components!”

That dark, sinister grin tugged at her. “This  _ is _ me being nice.”

He smirked. “Of course it is! Well then, why don’t you ask Spinel why I’m acting like this? Why I’m acting like this is the punchline of the century?!

Well, let me let these  _ readers _ of yours in on the joke.

This is the power of the Crystal Gems?! I’ve heard stories of how they were able to turn the most evil bastards in all of the universe into the kindest people imaginable! Weimar, you remember him Garnet? Remember how he died? Because your future vision was so  _ shortsighted _ ?”

Tourmaline wavered just slightly as Isaac continued. “Anyways, Weimar warned me that if I came here, I would lose sight of my mission that I’ve spent years thinking about. All those years of thinking, undone. But I thought it was worth it, because you, you guys were the trauma breakers! You helped Jasper, Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, Spinel, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, the  _ fucking _ Diamonds! I thought I could finally rest!”

His laughing kicked back in. “But all of those people just tried to beat the shit out of me after  _ I  _ came to talk to them! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you guys thought that I didn’t have a chance at redemption! But that’s crazy right? The Crystal Gems can redeem anyone right?! See it’s so confusing a-and like a paradox! Like how does it make sense that people become nicer after you fight them! It’s almost like they have never fought before!”

“Don’t you get it?! That’s the joke! I came all this way to try and be redeemed and become a better man, and instead I’m doing what I’ve been doing for 5000 years! Fighting! Using my anger to survive! Even the way you guys try to kill me is uncreative.”

At that Tourmaline staggered back, her hands shaking. “No! We didn’t try to kill you!”

“No, of course not! Just like Garnet didn’t try to kill me, or Spinel didn’t try to kill Steven!”

He took out his revolver and spun the hammer with a grin. “Well, I guess you’ll both have to keep trying!”

BANG!

The two components split apart, falling to the ground. Spinel looked up in horror, quickly glancing around and poofing, the gunshot having pierced her form rather than Garnet. Garnet had that same look of sheer terror in her eyes, as Isaac approached her with his sword in hand.

“Please don’t-“

“Don’t what?” Isaac smirked. “Don’t kill you? Do you really think so little of me that you think that I’d kill you?

No. I could’ve killed you a long time ago.” He took a deep sigh. “I just…I want things to change.”

Garnet exclaimed. “But things have changed!”

“No. Not really. People are still out there suffering. The Cluster is still in the Earth’s core, and every once in a while the Diamonds have a…outburst. I can’t just let what they did go Garnet. You have to understand that.

And if you don’t…then what comes next is going to be awkward.”

He raised his sword and plunged it straight into Garnet’s chest. Her head fell back, and soon, she poofed as well.

Isaac reeled his head back. It felt weird, poofing all of the gems after all these years. Sure, there was some part of it that felt satisfying. But there was an even bigger part that made him feel…

Melancholic.

Maybe because his revenge was never against Garnet and Pearl. It was more than that. It was  _ bigger _ than that.

He thought maybe now he could rest for a second.

But then…

“ **_ISAAC!_ ** ”

He groaned. “Oh for god’s sake!”

Connie and Steven jumped down to the beach, the former completely decked out in hardlight armor, covering her face and head. “Stop this, please! We can just talk about this!”

Isaac scoffed. “Oh now you want to talk?! After all this!” He gestured around him, and the duo immediately saw the carnage he had caused. Spinel, Ruby, Sapphire, Bismuth, Amethyst, all poofed.

Steven’s eyes went wide in horror. And then anger. “You  **BASTARD!** ”

He charged forward, gliding with a fierce rage deep in his heart, glowing pink all the while. Even despite Connie’s cries of warning, he collided with Isaac head on.

But he was stopped.

By a pink shield. Held by Isaac.

Steven had wide eyes of fear as Isaac grinned at the new development. “Like I said. I’m learning.”

He generated a shockwave from the shield, pushing Steven backwards. Isaac generated Pearl’s spears from his gauntlet, throwing them at Steven. He dodged them and dashed at Isaac, punching him straight in the face.

But it did nothing. He pulled himself back and punched right back-this time with Garnet’s own gauntlet.

Steven was sent flying, sprawled across the threatening sand. Connie was by his side in seconds, screaming, “ **STEVEN!** ”

He groaned slightly. “I’m okay. I just need a moment.”

Connie stood up. She faced Isaac and looked at him, past the dead eyes and dead body. Looked at him straight into the red that remained. “All this carnage. For what, Isaac? What were you trying to prove?”

Isaac smiled. “Nothing. I  _ wanted _ to talk. But I had a feeling a fight would break out. I guess in the end I wanted to show you what you were up against.”

Connie scowled. “You know we’re going to stop you. Not just that, we’re going to help you.”

Isaac’s eyes went wide. “Wha-?”

She grinned. “You heard me. We’re going to make sure that you get better, just like every other villain we have fought in the past, and years from now, when all is said and done, when Steven and I are married with kids, we’ll laugh together and be better because of what happened! You hear me?!”

Isaac looked on in shock as Steven weakly chuckled, “That’s my girl!”

But then he grinned. “Ah man, you always were a great soldier Connie. A great person, too.” His look turned somber. “And I hope you’re right. But today has felt like the longest day in my life and I need a break. So…I’m sorry if I make things difficult for you. But I have to do this. We’ve all been wronged by the Diamonds, time and time again. And I won’t let it happen again. I won’t let that pain spread. I refuse.

You know, for thousands of years, I’ve wondered what would happen if I burned the whole damn world down. I’ve wondered if that would help me hold onto some shred of sanity. But it didn’t. Nothing helped. Revenge is all I’ve got left.”

Connie drew her sword with a sad look. “That’s not true and you know it.”

Isaac sighed. “Yes it is. I’m pink, I can’t settle down and live like this. I can’t…so I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be…whatever happens next, we’ll figure this out. I swear it.” She pointed her sword straight at Isaac. “But I can’t let you run away from this again.”

“Like I said.

_ I’m done running. _ ”

Connie charged with her sword raised high

But Isaac grabbed Connie without a second thought, repositioned her whole body, and slammed her head into the foundations of the temple. One hit wasn’t enough to break her helmet. A second hit just barely cracked it. A third and fourth started to splinter light throughout the helmet.

Isaac didn’t stop there though. He kept doing it again and again and again, making an animalistic growl and scream, until all that was left of the helmet was a shattered mess, and Connie was unconscious. Alive. But hurt.

He quickly reeled back and saw his handiwork and stared at it in horror. He looked at all of what he did and his hands started to shake at an alarming rate. He felt like he was on the verge of tears, that the sanity that he’d been trying so hard to keep at bay was breaking and teetering on the edge of something far darker.

He needed to run. He needed to go as far away as he could.

Wasn’t he supposed to stop running though?

But how else could he-

“ **_BALDUR!_ ** ”

Isaac turned frantically to the source of that name, and raised his gun.

But something moved, faster than light, and cut the gun in half. Then, he cut just lightly at his throat, and then finally

Stabbed him in the chest.

It was  _ Steven _ .

He had picked up Connie’s sword and thrusted it through his chest, inches away from his heart. He was pink, but a brighter pink than he had ever seen from him. He was growling and on the edge of tears.

“You…you bastard! How dare you  **HURT HER?!** ”

Isaac sighed. “Well, obviously, she’s not dead.”

“ **OBVIOUSLY?!** You gave her a concussion! You could have shattered all of us-“

“I could have, sure, but I didn’t. They will all recover within days-“

“What are you trying to do here Isaac?! Start a war?! You come to me wanting to talk, wanting to explain your methods! Then you come  _ here _ , and destroy us all!”

“Connie charged me first! I  _ wanted _ to keep talking, keep discussing what would come next! But you fought! You guys aren’t that good at this whole redeeming thing.”

Steven pushed the sword in deeper, to the point where it was touching Isaac’s telltale heart. He groaned. “You know that won’t kill me.”

Steven scowled. “It’s worth a try.”

“Is it?” Isaac raised an eyebrow. “You would break your moral systems as revenge for someone you can still save? Come on, don’t be an idiot. You can still save her. You just have to use your healing and she’ll be okay. She isn’t even dead. You can still pull this off. So we can either keep fighting like this, or you can save her and let _me_ _go_.”

“And I thought you were done running?”

“Trying to emotionally mess with my head? Smart. Cold, but smart. It won’t work though. I’ve been through enough pain in my life to last a lifetime. We all need moments to rest? To lick our wounds and heal. Right Steven?”

There was a hesitation. Then Steven screamed and yanked out the sword from Isaac’s chest. He groaned slightly from the light pain, but it would heal.

He turned to look at Steven and realized that even his trauma would heal. Tears threatened to break from his eyes, but he had a dark scowl and a determined glare in his eyes. “You need to leave before I change my mind.”

Isaac couldn’t help but smirk. “You said you wished you were there when I lost everything. That you could’ve helped maybe. Well, be careful what you wish for. This is what war is. This is what it means to give everything to a cause. It means putting everything on the line long before you even breathe the scent of war. It means losing everything that makes you whole. And it means destroying your mind over and over again.

So heal your wounds Steven. Rest. Train. Make sure everyone is on the same page and get  _ strong _ .

After that, we’ll settle this. At the only place that matters-

-The battlefield.”

Isaac turned and began walking towards the ocean. He didn’t look back for even a second, because inwardly he was shaking frantically. Nervous and scared and dreading the coming future.

But as he stepped onto the water and felt the water touch his feet, someone called him out.

Steven.

“This isn’t over. We’ll settle this.

But it won’t be on your terms.

It’ll be on  _ mine _ .”

And for once, Steven had the power. And even though Isaac smirked and shouted back, “I’m looking forward to it!”

Even though Isaac felt the almost minuscule fear of Steven- _her_ **_son_** -going after him.

Above all,

He felt proud.

And impressed.

And as he teleported away, leaving Steven to his own devices, one thought filled his mind.

_ Oh the coming days and weeks were going to be very interesting. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay, but I thought it'd be better to release the chapter the day after the new episodes. Maybe more people read it that way?   
> So, these past few days have been a doozy. School is off for a few weeks, maybe more. I bought Doom Eternal and its amazing. The recent episodes of SUF were absolutely brutal. And I am sorry to say that both Doom and Fragments gave me a lot of ideas for the future of this story. And what school work we do have has been stressing me out a bit. But I am working through it as always.  
> So! This chapter was what I referred to with some of my friends as "The Big One". Few chapters ago we saw Isaac's backstory. This chapter we see the full effect of it. Isaac is fueled by one thing now: pure and utter rage. With more time, Steven could get through to him *maybe*. But its going to be a hell of an effort. He is angry at the gems for how they wronged him and how they have wronged Steven. He is angry at the Diamonds for how they caused this whole damn thing in the first place. And as a result, his mental state is fractured as hell. Hence his wild behavior in this chapter.  
> Also side note, I think I accidentally predicted the future because I just guessed that the Diamond essence could heal shattered gems.   
> Guess uh  
> Guess I was right about that huh  
> Oh, and trust me, Isaac hurting Connie really badly like that in the end won't go unanswered. And certain parallels should be drawn between that moment and Growing Pains.   
> But anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a comment if you did! And stay tuned for the next chapter next week, when SUF ends, and this first Arc ends as well! Stay safe everyone!


	16. The Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's something a bit unconventional. Im going to have my thoughts on the chapter here, because the end notes im saving for something special.  
> This chapter wasn't originally going to be here. We were going to go straight to the Next Chapter that was going to be a week later. However, I wanted this kind of in between section. To show how people were affected by the fight and all that. The three perspectives I chose to focus on are important to the rest of the story, and serve to show a simple fact: the trajectories of all our characters are in limbo. We don't know how they'll end up or where they will go now.  
> So, I hope you enjoy, and there's a little surprise at the end, teasing a future chapter.

Steven was not really religious.

He was smarter than most people thought he was. But he wasn’t exactly a religious person.

His Dad was. A catholic, like his extended family. And at times he still follows their beliefs, some of their ideas about god. And at times, he taught that to Steven. And at times, that knowledge took. And it helped Steven in dark times.

But that was a long time ago.

That was before he’d met the gems. That was before he was a part of their war. Before he was believed to be his mother, and threatened countless times. Before he had to fight some of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. Before he had to confront his own demons. His own monster.

Sure, he remembered the mythologies. He even looked into more mythologies after. As a kid, it was cool to learn about the legends of Odin, Thor, and Asgard. About Kali and Vishnu. About Hercules, Prometheus, and Sisyphus. They were amazing, they were _heroes_. They were everything he strived to be.

But when he was a teenager and became more existential, those ideas became something more. And he realized that those tales were more than just legends to astonish, that they were _documentaries_. Odin and Thor were based on gems. Asgard was based on Homeworld. Many Hindu legends told of the fusion Steven knew as Opal. Same with all the greek tales.

Hell, some people interpreted Prometheus as Pink Diamond herself. Wasn’t that amusing?

The appeal of those legends was lost when he realized that he had fought many Gods and Monsters himself. So he lost his appetite for the astonishing.

Especially when he realized that even the most altruistic of people were capable of some of the greatest evils. His mother was a damning example of that.

But when he had hit his lowest point, the idea of the Devil stood out. An ultimate evil above all things. Was there even such a thing? Was there anyone out there who could be so evil? When was evil at its highest? With its actions and motives? Or with its deceit?

Over time, he began to wonder if that evil was split into people, like in the sense that “good” as a concept was ever-present throughout people. Some did lie, some were prideful, some had uncontrollable tendencies that sent them and others into the darkest pits of despair.

Some people were more evil than others. Or at the very least, more destructive.

Some people had the devil in them.

But sometimes he wondered…where all of that unimaginable evil came from. Or where all that unimaginable good came from. It must have come from somewhere if it were divided into pieces. What happened if you combined the pieces?

But when that time was past, he moved on. He began to feel better, more optimistic about the war. And even though he had confronted that evil in some people, that monster…and even though he had fought his _own_ monster, he held together. He held faith in people and humanity. He held faith in the people he loved, and let go of those who were gone.

But then Isaac Sterling walked into his life.

Steven had put Connie on the last makeshift bed he had set up. There were about 8 beds total. Connie, Lars, Ruby/Sapphire, Spinel, Amethyst, Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot were all rested on the beds. The wound on Connie’s head had been mostly cleaned, and the shrapnel in Lars’ head had been removed.

Pearl, Volleyball, and Steven had done their best to stop the bleeding, but they needed a doctor. So Steven was picking up the phone. For a call he was not looking forward to making.

The phone was answered in three rings, and immediately Steven found himself speaking to Dr. Maheshwaran.

“Steven? What’s wrong?”

Steven found himself nearly crying immediately. And that betrayed the situation to the Doctor.

“Steven.

What happened to my daughter?”

He tried to speak but it came out in bursts. “I…we were attacked and, everyone was poofed except Pearl and Volleyball and Lars he had shrapnel in his head and Connie’s head was smashed against a wall. She’s alive, I-I healed her but she needs you. She needs you.”

Priyanka was frantic. “I’m on my way Steven! I’m already in the car and I’m driving there.” She was starting to cry, but she took just enough time to pause. “And Steven…whatever happened there, I promise it wasn’t your fault. We’re going to figure this out. I promise.”

And Steven…very quietly spoke softly. “Thank you.”

The phone line went dead. Leaving him alone with his thoughts. Steven looked down at his shirt and saw some light blood covering it, along with some very noticeable, borderline unrepairable cuts in his shirt. He managed to heal the cuts but that shirt…

It was his dad’s, or at least one of his dad’s old shirts. He would have to get a new one. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, there was one shirt he’d had his eyes on for a while…

But it wasn’t just the shirt was it?

This whole situation was bigger, more scarier than any shirt could live up to.

They had been fighting gems, evil, monstrous gems for years.

And yet no one had ever brought the fight to their home before.

At that moment, Steven realized he wasn’t entirely alone. Volleyball was out there getting help from the larger denizens of beach city. His Pearl.

His _mother._

Was right behind him.

She hugged him tightly. She remembered when she had to lean down to hug him, but now he was taller than her. It felt overwhelming at first but now it almost felt nice.

“Steven? I’m right here okay?” She spoke softly. Like a mother would. Like a mother _should_. “I’m right here honey.”

That broke him. Steven collapsed, and began to sob. The entire weight of the day began to crumble upon him, as he realized what he had been through. His wounds were minimal but he felt so, so tired. All the while, Pearl held him tightly, as tight as possible with her strength. And as Steven muttered, “I’m sorry”, over and over and over again.

Pearl just responded with a simple two words.

“I’m here.”

She repeated those words over and over again. Like a mantra.

Like a promise.

Steven leaned into her arms, like he did when he was a child. And it made him feel safe. It made him feel comfortable. For a second he let all of his worries melt away. Let himself believe he was in the arms of an angel. Of a beautiful, comforting cloud. His mother.

But then underneath it all, past the hole left in the temple, rested Rose’s picture. Her face, torn apart, still smiling as if unaware of the suffering she had created.

And dripping from the picture was a pink liquid. But it wasn’t just dripping. No. Like bubbles in the sky, the pink blood was floating. _Floating_. Like the blood of a monster, like something beyond human.

The blood of something with so much anger, it had a physical presence in his biology.

Like the blood of someone with the devil in them.

* * *

Doors open both ways.

Isaac had that realization a while ago. When the gems walked into his world

It meant that Isaac could walk right back into their world.

So when Steven started (accidentally) breaking into his mind, Isaac realized that he could see within his own mind.

Doors open both ways.

Isaac stood at the top of a staircase, in a warehouse deep within the heart of Beach City(specifically just behind the Beach City Emporium, the giant, independently owned, general store and repair shop).

It was 12am, and he felt more exhausted than he had in his life. His body was covered in water, sweat, and blood. Pink blood.

Isaac tried to get himself to walk down the stairs but his exhaustion kicked in, and he stumbled downwards. He barely held himself up using the railing but he still fell to the ground floor with a slight bump.

Then he noticed something. He noticed what Steven noticed.

The blood was floating in the air. Straight from the open wound on his chest and throat.

“Huh. That’s new.”

Then he looked at the gauntlet on its hand and saw a glowing energy oozing from it, straight to the rest of his body. It was small, almost imperceptible, but it was there.

Isaac got up and turned on the lights in the warehouse, revealing his work bench, his motorcycle, and cacophony of books, work materials, and weapons, that were both human and gem in nature. But some of the lights just...didn't turn on.

Isaac let out a deep sigh. “God, I still need to work on that electrical bill.”

He went straight to the voice record that laid on the table in front of him. He turned it in with a soft click, and began to speak.

“The day is December 17th 202X. I’ve stopped keeping track of years, so for now I just call it X. Makes things easier. Gave the Nth Gauntlet a full test run and I captured the powers of Steven Universe, Garnet, Pearl, Peridot, and Amethyst. Lapis, Bismuth, Volleyball, and Spinel still elude me. But that’s okay.” He chuckled softly to himself. “I’m not particularly fond of the idea of being able to stretch far beyond human proportions.”

“According to what I’ve gathered, Pink Diamond’s power has an immense effect on the body…which I guess we knew, but combined with the original dosage, it has a much larger effect. I’m not feeling much pain but it is causing my blood…to float. Not particularly sure why, and it makes me wonder if the effects will be different per Diamond. Maybe Yellow will generate some kind of electric charge? Who the hell knows?”

Isaac took a seat and rested his back against the leather chair he had bought a few years ago. “A lot’s happened in one day. I went to the Jotunheim Homeschool and burned the whole thing to the ground. I let the people that did nothing wrong go, the ones that were simply bystanders. But the ones that had been part of terroristic attacks against both Earth and the New Homeworld for years, the ones who caused the deaths of so many lives…I gave them a taste of their own medicine.”

“At one of my CA meetings, a Tanzanite therapist spoke about how revenge usually caused some of her patients to feel less full, and caused them to feel…incomplete. Empty. Everyone mostly agreed but one Zircon didn’t. See long ago, she was a Crystal Gem. And long before that, she was a lawyer for Homeworld. She helped to defend other servants to her Diamond from turf wars and discrimination. But there was so much everywhere. So much injustice, so many wrong acts. So she joined up with the Crystal Gems and became their legal representative. She was good at it too, but she never touched the battlefield. She helped the gems navigate through tough spots in policy and all that.

She had managed to drag her clients with her and all was good.”

He rubbed his head painfully. “Until a Jet wiped out her entire clientele.” He stood up and walked to his work bench where weapons collected from all across the universe were stored and experimented on. There was a mirror at the edge of the table, and a first aid kit under the table. Lastly, on an adjacent table, sat a record player with a variety of records under it, all neatly put together.

Isaac sat there and rested his recorder on the table and took a deep breath. “She was enraged. But Rose implored her to stay calm. She didn’t want her to resort to anger and hatred. Nowadays I wonder if Rose hated the concept of anger because she knew its consequences. But still, it caused more problems than it solved. Zircon used a device that had some fancy name but I always simply called it…

The Berserker. Keep in mind, this is long after things went wrong for me. I wasn’t sure how to stop her so I just kind of…let it happen.

Maybe I should’ve done more.

But she declared war against those who hurt her…and she killed them all. I saw her standing alone in a field of broken, _shattered_ gems. And just under her heel was the gem of the Jet that killed her clientele. The people she was sworn to protect.

You know what her gem weapon was?

A _giant fucking sword._ ”

He started using a small handheld welder to fuse together some human weapons with some gem weapons. It wasn’t as loud as he expected, so he was able to continue. “So, after that Rose Quartz was of course unpleased and she exiled Zircon off of the planet. I told her that I’d keep in touch and I never got the chance.

Because just a few days later she was corrupted into this…mechanical spider creature. Every time I fought her, I was left wounded and exhausted. She was a hell of a fighter.

And do you want to know the irony of all this?

She was _Pink’s_.”

Isaac chuckled to himself, just a bit, as he took his carried, bloodied, and messy shirt/armor off. He continued working, glancing at his destroyed gun and getting to work on that next. “When she decorrupted, she learned what she missed. All of it. And she grieved for a long long time. But then she met Steven and started to meet the other gems. The Crystal Gems made up with her, and Steven learned her story. She was a good person deep down, underneath it all. She stayed at Little Homeschool for a while, and she was…happy.

Until she realized there was a whole world out there. Filled with people who were wronged by Rose and by Pink. People who were exiled by one because of their loyalty to another. See, back then, Rose was so adamant about leaving Pink Diamond behind, that she…she wanted to forget, destroy, burn all ties to that part of her life. The only exception was Pearl but…god, on that planet they were so…angry. Left behind and betrayed.

Zircon’s rage came flooding back, but she used it to help the people on that planet. It paid off, of course, they needed her quite a bit. She makes sure that they are covered under New Homeworld’s new policies. But their anger never died out. It never ended. And when she came to the meeting, and told that story?

She told us all that revenge made her feel better. It gave her a purpose when she felt she had none. All of us in CA were shaken, unsure what to make of it, but it sort of made sense. The one thing every gem needs is a purpose. So where do you go if you have no purpose?

You go to the deepest darkest recesses of the mind. Sometimes doing good helps, sure but…it takes time. It takes pain and effort and sometimes you just want something easy. A quick fix. It’s not healthy, its not good but…damn if it isn’t effective.”

He had finally fixed his gun. Added a new and improved chamber and made the bullets a little bit more potent. Now…for the Nth Gauntlet. Maybe he could rewire it and use it as a power source.

He tried to keep talking, mostly to calm his own nerves down. “Steven he…from what I got from his internal dialogue, he was talking about the Devil in people. What’s the old quote?” He took a moment to think, and then he smiled. “Jean Paul Sartre. ‘Hell is other people’. Right. I believe that quote is from a story called…No Exit. Where three characters end up in hell and discover it to be an empty room. And they are stuck there for eternity. Alone together.

But Sartre was onto something” He spoke as electricity blasted against his fingers and he groaned. “See, there is more to evil than just wrong acts. It's every sin imaginable. Pride, greed, all of that. And each of us have pieces of that. In little ways, shit like that isn’t _bad_. It’s just human. We all have pieces of darkness inside us but as long as the light outweighs it, all is good.

But the gems…Pearl is obsessed with the past, to the point it blinds her every moment. Garnet is obsessed with the truth and love, to the point where if someone breaks that, she loses it. And Amethyst wants everyone to tell her everything at all times no matter what. Again, they are not evil just…

Flawed. To the point it hurts people around them. They are so obsessed with secrets and yet they won’t share the truth with others?! How is that even possible?! They kept Lapis hidden for years, they kept everything that mattered away from Steven, they didn’t even tell him that I **EXISTED!** ”

Isaac noticed himself losing it. So he took a deep breath and calmed himself. “So what is the root of all evil? If evil is split into people…where did it all come from? The Devil himself? Satan?”

“Well…I have my own theory.” He took a moment to hold the recorder, but then he lowered it down slowly onto the table and held his head in his hands. “God, look at me. Obsessing over the Diamonds like I’m crazy, like I haven’t moved on!

But how can you move on?! The gems pretend like its all easy, but they have so much time to get over their pain?! What about us?! It’s been five thousand years and I’m still hurting!”

He stood up and grabbed his gun and pointed it at the wall, at a makeshift symbol of the Diamonds. “All because of you! You hurt all of us! You doomed our planet, our whole race, and you’re still hurting people even now! The pain you caused isn’t resolved yet! Connie, Steven, Lars, even all of the gems, we are still hurting because of you! Entire planets are in ruin! Exodus 9 is hell itself because of what you did!”

“Steven wants to know the root of all evil?! There they are! The Diamonds! They took all of it from us and they are still taking! And no one is acting against them because they’re afraid! But I am not! I am done running and if I have to become a monster to end their rein, I will do it!”

He started frantically slamming at the sign with his gun, screaming, “ **DO YOU HEAR ME ROSE QUARTZ?! I’M TAKING IT ALL BACK AND I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT YOU ARE! EVERYTHING THAT YOU WERE! I SWEAR IT!** ”

His star brand began glowing a bright red as his anger reached its peak…but then it slowly died out as he collapsed to the ground. “You took…everything from me. I trusted you with my life and you just…didn’t care. How many lives have you ruined Rose? How many? Your friends, Greg…

How could you ruin the life of your own son?”

He looked down at his brand as he leaned against the wall. He chuckled just slightly. “You know, after you guys left me for dead, I made my own work. Any gems that even tried to come here and start something, I ended. And made them regret ever coming here. I attracted the attention of a lot of people. But no one ever bested me in a fight. No one.

The gems I shattered, man, it was a sight. They had a name for me. _The Terra_ n. For a while, I never understood it. Technically, all humans were terrans. Why did I get signaled out like that? It wasn’t until I had a face to face encounter with an army of gems that it made sense.

They screamed out, **‘LOOK, IT’S THE TERRAN!** ’, and ran. It clicked at that moment. It was their way of referring to me as something beyond their control, beyond their knowledge. A demon.

A devil. To put it like Steven.”

Isaac stood up slowly with a chuckle. “But I was never into that kind of stuff. I’m not…terrifying to these guys. I’m just a human, an ordinary, down to Earth-“

At that moment, the Nth Gauntlet had a violent reaction and it sparked against the generator and power switch, and something, everything in the room turned on including…

[ The record player. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH2UB2uD-tA)

“ **WRONG!** ”

Isaac stood up in shock and walked towards the glowing Nth Gauntlet and the record player.

“ **WRONG!** ”

Isaac looked at the song and saw its name. Wrong by Depeche Mode.

“ **WRONG!** ”

At that moment, the ironic beauty of the moment clicked in his head.

And he began to laugh.

“ **WRONG!** ”

“Oh man! This is the best, haha! Of course it could be used as a power source! This changes everything!”

He slowly began to get to work with welding as the song blared in the background. But everything worked more efficiently with “Pink Diamond” powering it all.

“ _I was born with the wrong sign_

_In the wrong house_

_With the wrong ascendancy_

_I took the wrong road_

_That led to the wrong tendencies._ ”

So what if everyone saw him as a demon? The world had taken everything from him…it was time to start taking things back.

_“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time_

_For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme_

_On the wrong day of the wrong week_

_I used the wrong method with the wrong technique._ ”

Steven used his precious friends to motivate him all the time. Maybe Isaac should think about his own!

“ _Wrong_

_Wrong_

_There's something wrong with me chemically_

_Something wrong with me inherently_

_The wrong mix in the wrong genes_

_I reached the wrong ends by the wrong means-_ “

Weimar,

Oscar,

Sasori,

Lucius,

And…

Saga.

At that, Isaac stopped dead in his tracks.

He had had so many good reasons for resorting to anger, and as far as he knew, that was his only path…

But Saga.

“ _It was the wrong plan_

_In the wrong hands_

_With the wrong theory for the wrong man_

_The wrong lies, on the wrong vibes_

_The wrong questions with the wrong replies_

**_WRONG!_ **

**_WRONG!_ **”

But she was committed right? Just as much as he was.

They all were.

This was it.

“ _I was marching to the wrong drum_

_With the wrong scum…_ ”

He loaded his gun, now fully working and connected to the gauntlet and blasted it at the wall

And with a loud, almost unnatural bang

It punched right through.

All the power instantly went out as Isaac looked on in awe. “Whoa. That’s…holy _shit_.”

Suddenly, the power came flooding back because of the gauntlet. The song reached its final note as Isaac put the gun down and set to work on his wounds.

He chuckled as he changed to record to something more intense. “Alright old friends. You guys wanted a war? Wanted to hate me? Think it’ll make things easier if you had a Devil to fight?

Okay.

I’ll give you a Devil.

Just you wait. You won’t die, no…but you’ll see.

You’ll finally _see what_ **_I_ ** _see_.”

He placed the record on the table and the music blared on.

“ **I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE!**

**AND I BRING YOU-** “

* * *

Pearl stood at the edge of the shore, watching the waves slowly seep onto the beach and then recline itself. She held the remaining pieces of Rose’s picture, all with pink blood dripping from the edges.

She sat down on the sand and took a deep breath. “They’re terrified of you, you know? Scared because of what you can do. Scared because you have nothing to lose.”

Suddenly a hologram burst forth from her forehead, revealing Pearl and Isaac-Baldur, talking in an empty room.

Pearl tried to mimic Baldur’s voice as much as he could. “Maybe they have reason to be afraid. Maybe I can finally make things right after all the pain that Homeworld has caused.”

“But I know the truth.”

“What?”

“I remember how we drank together after a successful battle. How you were always compassionate to everyone you met-“

“Wait-“

“How you cared about us, no matter what happened. How you placed bets about how…how long it would take for Rose to discover my feelings for her.”

“Okay, stop-“

“How we would bond, and sometimes go into town, and make friends and find hope and happiness and-“

“Enough!”

Pearl looked up at the hologram and saw that Baldur had pushed her backwards just a bit as he began to sob. She muttered what she remembered him saying.

“That man died…on that spire years ago, Pearl.”

The hologram suddenly poofed away as Pearl was left alone with her thoughts and her tears. She wiped one from her eye and sighed. “You were my best friend back then. You listened to my worries and never once cared who I was. You saw me for _me_ and…back then that meant more than I could say.

And yet we ruined you Baldur. We destroyed your family, your life, your everything.”

“For years, I wanted to forget what we did to you. It felt easier. To assume that humanity had nothing good to offer because they weren’t like you. But I never could. Because sometimes when I look at Steven…I see the life you could have lived. A life of happiness, of love, of…something you never had the chance to enjoy.

Sometimes I really wonder that you could have been a part of our family...if things had gone differently.”

She chuckled slightly. “I’ve never told anyone this. Not even Volleyball. But when that happened, there were days on end where I was…so angry at Rose. It felt wrong what she did, how she let you suffer quietly.

I loved Rose with all my heart.

But looking back…”

Pearl chuckled bitterly. “I finally see your point Baldur. Maybe she is the reason all of us are feeling like this. Volleyball, Spinel, Amethyst, Garnet, the Diamonds, all the Roses, Bismuth...you and I. The planet itself. Everyone we have ever loved and cared about…broken. Lost. Without direction or purpose.

When she approached the end of her life she was…kind. I guess in many ways Greg _did_ bring out the best in her.

But now she’s gone.

I loved Rose with all my heart.

But…my love is now directed to…others.”

She stood up and turned to see the makeshift campfire she had set up, burning slowly with its embers floating in the night sky. Next to it were a collected pile of the remains of Rose’s picture.

Pearl took a nervous breath as she looked at the remains. “She was my whole world. She was my Diamond, the person most precious to me in this galaxy. But she’s gone.

And in many ways, I’m better for it.”

She smiled softly. “Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth, Lapis, Peridot, Greg, Volleyball, the other Pearls, Spinel, Connie, _Steven_.

And _you_ , Baldur.

Without Rose, I never would have met any of the people I love most in this world, so it seems unfair to hate her completely.

But…maybe it's time to finally make good on my word…”

She tossed the paper she held, the one showing Rose’s face into the fire. It quickly burned up and almost exploded in a sea of embers.

“And move on.”

Pearl slowly picked up the pieces of the picture, and one by one, tossed them into the fire. Talking to herself all the while. “You gave us everything Rose. Freedom, happiness, hope…and a life. But you took everything from us, too. The people we loved, our past, and any chance of moving on.

But it’s over. You’re gone. And your son is all that’s left. Your son, who is sleeping now, being comforted by his father, because of another disaster you wrought.” She began to speak more angrily. “Your son, traumatized by you and the weight of the world you placed on him. **YOUR SON! WHO HAD HIS CHILDHOOD TAKEN FROM HIM BECAUSE OF YOU!** ”

All at once, she tossed pieces of the picture into the fire with a loud guttural scream, They burned up instantly, raising the fire higher and higher. The only piece of the picture left in her hands was a picture of her eye. Her lovely beautiful eyes.

The eyes she passed to her son.

“Your son. Who is a better person and gem than you ever were.”

She threw the last piece into the fire. There was no ceremony, no long moment where it burned into cinders.

It was just gone.

And for the first time, Pearl felt…okay because of it.

She clenched her fists as she stared at the fire. “I invoke the ancient laws of gem culture, the laws of Homeworld, and the laws of the Crystal Gems, and on this day make an eternal vow.

I swear to protect my family with all my heart. To protect the people I care about without losing myself. To protect Steven and Connie as if they were my children. I swear to protect my…my girlfriend Volleyball no matter what comes. I swear to fight and fight and rage…”

She smiled softly. “Rage against the dying of the light.” Then she finally steeled herself. “And I swear…I swear to bring you home Baldur. No matter what may come, I will bring you home. I failed you and Moonstone all those years ago.

So now I swear…

To protect all of you.

As a knight. As a Crystal Gem. As a mother.

And as a friend.”

As she spoke her final vow, the waters of the shore pushed forward. It slowly but surely tried to make its way to the fire, to snuff it out for good.

But nothing could snuff out that vow.

Nothing could snuff out that _fire_.

  
  
  


* * *

**AS ONE STORY ENDS,**

**ANOTHER SHALL CONTINUE.**

**BECAUSE NO STORY IS EVER TRULY _OVER._**

**IT IS KEPT ALIVE BY THE PEOPLE WHO WERE AFFECTED BY THE TALES. BY THE LEGENDS.  
**

**AND FOR THAT REASON.**

**NOTHING EVER TRULY ENDS.**

* * *

  
  


Isaac climbed onto the stage slowly. He felt his hands shaking manically because well…he didn’t know what he was going to do.

What if the whole world rejected him or ostracized him. Maybe he deserved it but…

God, he didn’t want this, he wanted to do good, to make his mark.

Wasn’t that what this was all about? Making a mark?

Wasn’t that why all of the gems were here, at this show? To make a mark on the world? To go beyond what people expected of them?

He could do this.

He _could_ do this.

Isaac climbed onto the seat, with the microphone connected and everything. There was a guitar set up against the chair, it was just as he imagined.

Just as he had hoped.

He sat down and that’s when he saw everyone.

Everyone he had ever known and beyond.

He saw Dot and **[REDACTED** ]

He saw Spinel, Volleyball, Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. He even saw Eckhart.

And he saw Steven.

And everyone of them were smiling.

He could do this.

So he sat down and took a sip of water. Then he grabbed the microphone.

“Hey everyone!”

He chuckled awkwardly as everyone said hey back.

“Wow, big crowd. Wasn’t expecting this.

My uh…”

Here was the big moment.

“My name is Isaac Sterling.”

No reaction. Some people smiled.

“Uhhhh. You guys may know me as Baldur or-or the Terran.

A soldier…a terrorist…a monster.”

Still no reaction.

He chuckled slightly. “But maybe you guys know what that’s like. You know what it’s like to try to attack people or humans or this planet. I think that’s the one thing nearly everyone here has in common. We’ve all felt that pain and taken it out on this planet.”

He smiled wide. “For me personally, I was born here. Like some of you. Born as uh...Baldur Odinson. But…but Rose Quartz changed me. Made me something that wasn’t entirely human and not entirely gem.

I spent years of my life angry and in _rage_. But I think someone showed me that that is not all I have.

I think it’s the same person that showed you all that lesson or that idea. That there is more to a person than their anger or their rage and their purpose. There is more to a planet than its past. Everything has more to it than meets the eye.

His name is Steven Universe.”

The crowd roared at the name. The poor kid already had tears in his eyes.

“Yeah, I guess we all really do know his name. _Believe in Steven_. Isn’t that the phrase? I don’t know who came up with it, but who ever did, good on you guys.

See, I think everyone needs a friend like Steven Universe. A friend to watch their back and constantly defend them at every turn. Be there for them. No matter what.

The best of friends are there for you, but the even better of friends know that even they have limits. I think…I hope that Steven knows that he doesn’t have to help everyone.

He’s started to take breaks and take his time and that’s…good. It’s amazing. He shouldn’t have to help people, we are all capable people. We can absolutely help ourselves.

And yet he does it in spite of it. In spite of it all.

He helps people not because he owes a debt or anything but because he wants to. Because he’s a good man.

I believe in Steven. I believe that all of our worlds would be in hell without him. I believe that the Diamonds would have killed us all if not for him.

And I believe that maybe…just maybe…I can become more than the soldier Baldur, or the terrorist Isaac.

I could be something else.

I could be…

_Me_.

So that’s why I’m here. Because I was convinced and dragged here away from my whole…terrorism shtick.” A giggle from the crowd.

“When I got hit with corruption…like a lot of us, I saw things-uh, you guys may also know me from Corruptions Anonymous.

And uh…I saw things and I heard things. The big thing was that I uh…I heard things from the _future._

Crazy right?

But one of the songs I heard just…stuck out to me. So…”

He grabbed his guitar and tuned it just slightly. “So I decided to sing it for everyone here.

Maybe it would be a relief in dark times or something. A relief in general.

Just what everyone needs.

Because in the end, that’s what everyone needs.

Not anger. Not rage.

Just happiness.

A _Resolution_.”

He wasn’t expecting a reaction.

But what he got was clapping. Unanimously loud clapping.

And for the first time, Isaac felt himself shed a tear.

It felt good. Relieving.

Hopeful.

So he took a hold of the guitar.

And he began to strum.

A soft tune. A calm tune.

He could vaguely see people wave their hands in tune to the rhythm. But at that point, nothing else mattered.

Except for him. The guitar.

The light.

And his world.

So he began to [sing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-RCiBWmBBc).

“ _Ultimately I don't understand a thing_

_I try to do the best I can_

_I know you try to do the same_

_We're just so bound to make mistakes_

_You could call it a disposition,”_

It gave him goosebumps to sing that song that he heard so long ago.

_“I apologize for all your tears_

_I wish I could be different_

_But I'm still growing up_

_Into the one you can call your love_

_I don't know if I'll ever be enough_

_I'm throwing in my chips_

_I guess I tend to push my luck.”_

He could see the tears stain the cheeks of everyone in the crowd.

_“And ultimately I believe we'll be okay_

_It's so cliché to say these things, but repetition is a key_

_I think I'm better when I'm with you_

_But I worry when you're gone_

_I think I need to learn to love myself_

_I must learn to be strong_

_So, for now we'll say goodbye_

_Although it pains me in my heart_

_Your words they come to me in memories_

_They sing to me like songs_

_It won't be long until I'm here_

_Soon I'll make my arrival_

_Under shady trees_

_A quiet street_

_The roads that I have traveled”_

He could feel the tears stain his own cheeks.

He could feel something watching him. A presence.

_“Ultimately it's a beautiful thing_

_Like flowers blooming in a lonely field_

_The petals drift through crossing winds_

_They find their way to river streams_

_That scent the water beautifully, it takes me back to you_

_It takes me back to you.”_

And as he strummed those last notes, he realized what was filling his heart. That feeling.

That presence.

It was hope.

It was _hope_.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it really is over isn't it?  
> I wrote this chapter about two weeks ago, just before quarantine hit. It came right off the heels of my reading the Immortal Hulk, and loving the ideas of ultimate evils and philosophy. And I was really proud of it. Especially Pearl's moment. I thought it really fit. The idea was always to have this chapter come on the day SU ended.  
> But the real reason I wanted it to come today, on a Saturday, was because I wanted a moment to take in the finale and see how much it changed.  
> Yesterday however, I decided to write one final epilogue. Because I was getting emotional and was wondering, how do I give this arc a really cool send off. Hence the teaser for the future. And I thought it would be a nice fitting send off to the show.  
> But man, what a killer ending, right?  
> In my opinion, SUF had the best possible ending. To the point it makes me nervous about continuing, cause where do you go from there? Thankfully, my original plans worked out pretty well in the long run. I was teasing the corruption concept for Steven for a while, and I can retcon the scars if I want to...tho, I guess I don't really have to? Hard to say, tell me what you guys think about if I should remove the mentions of scars. Future chapters go well with this too. So nothing has changed.  
> I'm excited to continue, especially with the next couple of chapters(Not Alone, Hunting, Graveyard, and Saga)  
> But that ending...  
> Thank you Steven Universe for being an incredible inspiration and having an incredible resolution and portrayal of mental health.  
> And thank you, all of you, for taking the time out of your day to read my story. Seriously, it means a lot.  
> If you guys can leave a comment, that'd be great. And if you want to talk about the finale, I'm still TeslaRolex on both twitter and tumblr.  
> But I'll see you guys soon. Stay safe, and keep on dreaming. Never let your imagination die.  
> Because nothing ever truly ends.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh! Hello everyone!  
> Okay, so this is my first ever Steven Universe fic! I am known for primarily writing Persona 5 fics, so this is new for me. I am definitely excited to dive into this fandom that means so much to me. I've been thinking about the idea for this fic for a while, and after Steven Universe Future was released, I knew I had to start on it. So expect to see more chapters every Friday.  
> I hope you guys are excited to see more! Please leave any comments or positive feedback(or theories to satiate me), and I hope you enjoyed. And if you do like Persona 5, check out my long fic called Alone and Forsaken, which I just posted a new chapter to right now!  
> If you want to see more updates, follow my twitter @TeslaRolex  
> I'm so excited to work on this and I hope you enjoy what comes next. See you around!


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